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ANTHONY WAYNE 



APPLETONS' SERIES OF 

HISTORIC LIVES. 



Father Marquette. 

By Reuben Gold Thwaites, Editor of "The 
Jesuit Relations." Third Edition. 

Daniel Bocyie. 

By Reuben Gold Thwaites. Third Edition. 

Horace Greeley. 

By William A. Linn, for many years Man- 
ag;ing Editor of the " New York Evening 
Post." 

Sir William Johnson. 

By Augustus C. Buell, Author of " Paul 
Jones, Founder of the American Navy." 

Anthony Wa-yne. 

By John R. Spears, Author of " History of the 
American Slave Trade," etc. 

Champlain : The Founder of New Fra^nce. 

By Edwin Asa Dix, M. A., LL. D., Formerly 
Fellow in History of Princeton University, Author 
of "Deacon Bradbury," "A Midsummer Drive 
Through the Pyrenees," etc. [Autumn of 1903.] 

Sam Houston. 

By Prof. George P. Garrison, of the Univer- 
sity of Texas. \In preparation.] 

Sir William Pepperell. 

By Noah Brooks. [/« preparation!] 



Each 12mo. Illustrated. $1.00 net. 
Postage. 10 cents additional. 



D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. 




ANTHONY WAYNE. 



antjjonp Wa^nt 



SOMETIMES CALLED "MAD ANTHONY' 



BY 
JOHN R. SPEARS 




New York 

2D» ^}j})leton anb Comjjanp 



1903 






THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS 



ived ! 



T«vi Copies Rtcei 

AUG ?3 1903 

Copy'ignt Entry 
CUSS^ ft- ■ XXc No 

(» 7 7- t. 4 



COPV 0. 



COFTBISHT, 1903, BY 

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY 



Published August, 190S 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER 




PAGB 


I. 


Youthful Experiences 


1 


II. 


As A Citizen of the Colony of Pennsylvanla 


14 


III. 


In the Early Days of the War . 


24 


IV. 


Wayne's First Battle .... 


32 


V. 


On the Retreat to Ticonderoga . 


40 


VI. 


In Command at Ticonderoga 


51 


VII. 


In Command of the Pennsylvania Line 


60 


VIII. 


On the Brandywine .... 


68 


IX. 


Attacked in the Night .... 


76 


X. 


A Battle in a Fog .... 


85 


XL 


The Conditions after the Battle of Ger 






MANTOWN 


97 


XII. 


The Valley Forge Winter . 


101 


XIII. 


MONMODTH 


112 


XIV. 


When Wayne was Superseded by St. Clair 


128 


XV. 


Stony Point 


. 139 


XVI. 


The " Cow Chace," the Treason of Arnold 






AND THE Mutiny of the Pennsylvania Lini 


: 161 


XVII. 


Wayne in Virginia .... 


177 


XVIII. 


When Wayne Recovered Georgia 


182 


XIX. 


Between Two Wars .... 


195 


XX. 


The War on the Frontier . 


200 


XXI. 


At the Battle of the Fallen Timbers 


205 


XXTT. 


When His Work was Done . 


225 




Index 


'237 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACING 
PAGE 

Portrait of Anthony Wayne . . . Frontispiece 

The Battle of Monmouth 132 

The Storming of Stony Point 154 

Gold medal presented to Wayne by Congress . . . 158 

Map of Stony Point battle-field 160 

Portrait of Arthur St. Clair 200 

Site of the Battle of the Fallen Timbers . . . .212 

The Battle of the Fallen Timbers 223 



ANTHONY WAYNE 



CHAPTER I 

YOUTHFUL EXPERIENCES 

It was in the midst of the most stirring 
period of the history of the colony of Penn- 
sylvania that Anthony Wayne grew from in- 
fancy to manhood, for he "was born in the 
township of Easttown, Chester County, Penn- 
sylvania, on the first day of January, 1745." 
The Indian traders from Pennsylvania dur- 
ing that year penetrated the unbroken wilder- 
ness as far as Sandusky Bay, on Lake Erie, 
where they established a post, and thus 
greatly alarmed the French of Canada, who 
claimed the whole Mississippi watershed as 
their territory. In 1749 the French sent an 
expedition under Bienville de Celeron to the 
Ohio Valley to "restore tranquillity" among 
the Indian villages, and to plant certain lead 
plates in the earth, each of which was to be 
a " monument of the renewal of posses- 
sion by the French." But this did not re- 

1 



Anthony Wayne 



strain the British colonial enterprise, and in 
1752, when Wayne was seven years old, and 
well able to comprehend the stories from the 
frontier, a dozen British frontiersmen were 
building cabins in the valley of the Mononga- 
hela. At the same time, however, a French 
force under Charles Langlade attacked the 
British trading-post called Picawillany, in 
the Ohio country, and that attack begun the 
bloody war that was to end only when the 
French had been driven from the valley. 

Before snow flew that year the French 
had built forts at Presq'isle (now Erie), Pa., 
and where Waterford, Pa., now stands, at 
what was then the head of canoe navigation 
in French Creek, a branch of the Alleghany 
River. 

A year later (November 16, 1753), Wash- 
ington crossed the Alleghany Mountain di- 
vide on his celebrated mission to the French 
at Le Boeuf, and in February following the 
Virginians were building a fort at the forks 
of the Ohio. Then came the French under 
Contrecceur, to compel the surrender of the 
new stockade on April 17, 1754, and in 1755, 
when Wayne was ten years old, Braddock 
came, intending to drive the French not only 
from the forks of the Ohio, but from Niagara, 

2 



Youthful Experiences 

and from Crown Point, on Lake Cliamplain, 
as well. The story of the frightful slaughter 
that followed on the banks of the Mononga- 
hela was thoroughly well known to the youth- 
ful Wayne, and it is not improbable that he 
saw the miserable troops under Dunbar, who, 
in their retreat, crossed Chester County and 
reached Philadelphia. 

Then came "the two dismal years " of 1756 
and 1757, wherein the Indians, led by French 
officers, crossed the Alleghanies, and with 
torch and tomahawk raided the settlers with- 
in 60 miles of Philadelphia. Worse raid- 
ing was never known than that. " The Indians 
do not make any prisoners," wrote Father 
Claude Godfrey Cocquard, S. J., in a letter 
to his brother in 1757. "They kill all they 
meet — ^men, women, and children. Every day 
they have some in their kettle, and after hav- 
ing abused the women and maidens, they 
slaughter and burn them." 

Wayne's father had been a militia officer 
who was locally distinguished as an Indian 
fighter. The boy lived where he saw the 
frightened fugitives from the interior fleeing 
to Philadelphia for protection. He heard 
their pitiful stories. He knew all about the 
raising of the force that, under Col. John 

3 



Anthony Wayne 



Armstrong, went to Kittanning and inflicted 
some injury on the Indians, but failed to 
bring peace. Whether he knew much about, 
or comprehended, the negotiations with the 
Indians conducted thereafter, is a question; 
but when General Forbes organized an army 
at Philadelphia, in 1758, to retrieve the losses 
of the preceding years, we may be confident 
that Wayne knew all about that work. And 
how all these stirring events affected the mind 
of the lad is a matter of record. 

For during the conflict Wayne was at- 
tending a school taught by his uncle Gilbert 
(or Gabriel) Wayne, and this uncle, exasper- 
ated at the boy's conduct, wrote the follow- 
ing letter to Anthony's father, Isaac Wayne : 

"I really expect that parental affection 
blinds you, and that you have mistaken your 
son's capacity. What he may be best quali- 
fied for, I know not — one thing I am certain 
of, he will never make a scholar ; he may per- 
haps make a soldier; he has already dis- 
tracted the brains of two-thirds of the boys 
under my charge, by rehearsals of battles, 
sieges, etc. They exhibit more the appear- 
ance of Indians and Harlequins than students. 
This one decorated with a cap of many colors, 
others habited in coats as variegated, like Jo- 

4 



Youthful Experiences 

seph's of old — some laid up with broken heads 
and black eyes. During noon, in place of the 
usual games of amusement, he has the boys 
employed in throwing up redoubts, skirmish- 
ing, etc. I must be candid with you, brother 
Isaac — unless Anthony pays more attention 
to his books, I shall be under the painful 
necessity of dismissing him from the school." 

It was in the summer of 1759 that this let- 
ter was written. The boy's natural talent 
for deeds of war had been cultivated by the 
stirring tales of Braddock's defeat, and the 
French raids, and the colonial acts of resist- 
ance, until he made himself the leader of the 
boys at the school, and tried to make soldiers 
of them. 

After the letter was read at home young 
iWayne showed one other mark of the good 
soldier — a ready subordination to authority. 
His father ordered him to return to school 
and devote himself to his studies, instead of 
to mimic war, and he did it. "He persevered 
so effectually that at the end of eighteen 
months, his uncle acknowledged that he could 
instruct him no further." 

Accordingly, on the recommendations of 
his uncle, Anthony was sent to the academy in 
Philadelphia, where he remained two years. 

5 



Anthony Wayne 



"His attachment to mathematical science was 
so ardent, and his zeal to reach its summit so 
great, that the united solicitations of his 
friends and tutors could not prevail on him 
to devote more time to the dead languages than 
what was merely sufficient for the acquire- 
ment of their rudiments." But when, at the 
age of eighteen, he left school, he had thor- 
oughly fitted himself for the career of a sur- 
veyor. 

The school experiences of Wayne afford a 
notable parallel to those of Washington. 
England was at war with Spain while Wash- 
ington was attending Hobby's school, and the 
tales which the lad heard about the deeds of 
Admiral Vernon and General Wentworth in 
the West Indies (with whom Laurence Wash- 
ington, the half-brother of George, was serv- 
ing) led him to "make soldiers of his school- 
mates." "All his amusements took a military 
turn," and "they had mimic parades, reviews, 
and sham fights," according to Irving, though 
it does not appear that there were any black 
eyes or broken heads in young Washington's 
battles. 

Then, when Washington left Hobby's care 
for that of Williams, "he never attempted to 
learn the languages, but in land surveying " 

6 



Youthful Experiences 

he "schooled himself thoroughly." So says 
Irving. 

The parallel in the lives of these men, who 
were to be so usefully connected in later 
years, extends somewhat beyond their school- 
days. Washington became acquainted with 
Lord Fairfax, who was then the great man of 
Virginia. Fairfax saw the inherent worth 
of the youth, and employed him in surveying 
the wide Fairfax domain in the beautiful 
Shenandoah Valley. Wayne, in some way not 
recorded, became acquainted with Franklin, 
who was then the great man of Pennsylvania, 
and was employed by him in a still more im- 
portant trust than that which Fairfax con- 
fided to Washington. 

On leaving school, Wayne used his com- 
pass and chain in the wilds of Pennsylvania, 
giving his spare time meanwhile to the study 
of civil engineering and astronomy. It was a 
life well suited to the taste of the youth, for 
the work took him into the wilderness, where 
the days were passed in running lines over 
mountains and across valleys and gorges, 
while at night he slept by an open fire. There 
were dangers enough to excite his love of ad- 
venture, including, indeed, the danger of an 
encounter with stray Indians looking for pri- 

7 



Anthony Wayne 



vate revenge for old injuries. It was while 
thus employed that he attracted the attention 
of Franklin. 

Franklin, after the French power was de- 
stroyed in Canada, organized an association 
(1764) "for the purpose of purchasing and 
settling a large body of land in the Province 
of Nova Scotia." His company included 
"many wealthy and distinguished characters," 
all of whom, however, were speculators, as 
Franklin was, and not desirous of going to 
Nova Scotia on any account. A man was 
needed to take entire charge of the emigrants 
who were to be sent there — help them select 
their lands, survey out plots for them, make 
and enforce contracts, and in eveiy way pro- 
mote the interests of the settlers and the com- 
pany. It is certain that no boy twenty years 
old would be selected for such a task in the 
twentieth century, but in 1765 Franklin se- 
lected Anthony Wayne for it. 

Wayne left Philadelphia in the month of 
March, with a company of settlers, and on 
reaching Nova Scotia, he selected a tract of 
100,000 acres on the St. John's Eiver, and 
another of equal extent on the Piticoodzack. 
The records of the Crown Land Office at Que- 
bec show that warrants for the tracts were 

8 



Youthful Experiences 

issued to Wayne, in the name of the com- 
pany, on October 31, 1765 (Stille). It is 
apparent that Wayne must have surveyed 
these tracts during the warm season, besides 
attending to his other duties. What these 
other duties were appears in part from the 
instructions given him. He was to ascertain 
(says Stille) whether "the land proposed to 
be bought and settled upon was, 1. Good & 
supplied with navigable waters. 2. To ob- 
serve where were the heads of navigation in 
the Rivers, that is, the tide. 3. Convenient 
places for ferries. 4. Passes through the 
mountains. 5. Iron ore & cole mines. 6. 
Mill seats & other waterworks. 7. Places 
where the roads meet. 8. Beaches or islands 
with black sand washed up. 9. Mast lands 
or pure swamps. 10. Lime stone or other 
stones. 11. Meadow lands and marsh. 12. 
Large springs or any mineral springs." 

Wayne did these things while managing 
his company of settlers (some of whom were 
doubtless homesick and discontented) and 
surveying the lands in an absolute wilderness. 
In December he returned to Philadelphia with 
his report, and the report was to the entire 
satisfaction of the company. He was contin- 
ued in the post of resident manager and re- 
2 9 



Anthony Wayne 



turned to Nova Scotia in the following sea- 
son, where he continued his work with entire 
success. But when the second year's work 
had been completed "the menacing character 
of the controversy between Great Britain and 
her Colonies put an end to the enterprise " 
(Sparks). 

Before telling what Wayne did after the 
impending political troubles put an end to the 
Nova Scotia enterprise, it is worth while to 
consider, for a moment, the facts, so far as 
known, of Wayne's ancestry. 

The story of Anthony Wayne's ancestors 
begins with his grandfather, who was a na- 
tive of Yorkshire, England, and also bore the 
name of Anthony. When still a young man 
this grandfather moved to the County Wick- 
low, Ireland, where he was engaged in farm- 
ing. But being a man of means and influ- 
ence, "he occasionally executed some civil as 
well as military offices." As a Protestant he 
joined the forces of William of Orange, under 
whom he commanded a troop of dragoons at 
the battle of the Boyne, "and he greatly dis- 
tinguished himself by gallantry in that de- 
cisive battle " (Stille). One likes to note that 
the Wayne of Stony Point came of good fight- 
ing stock. 

10 



Youthful Experiences 

In 1722 the grandfather came to Philadel- 
phia, and after two years spent, presumably, 
in examining the country, he purchased 
1,600 acres of land in Chester County, Penn- 
sylvania. His family, at this time, con- 
sisted of his wife and four sons, the youngest 
of whom was named Isaac. These sons were 
established on the estate as farmers. 

At the death of the grandfather Isaac in- 
herited a plot of 500 acres, within two miles 
of the village of Paoli, and it was on this farm 
that Anthony Wayne, the subject of this 
memoir, was born. It is recorded that Isaac 
Wayne was a man of "great industry and 
enterprise," and that his wife was a woman 
of great "force of character." 

Isaac "frequently represented the county 
of Chester in the provincial legislature," and 
as a militia officer "repeatedly distinguished 
himself in expeditions against the Indians." 
He was celebrated as a patriotic Pennsylva- 
nian. He died in 1774, leaving one son — An- 
thony — and two daughters. 

When, in 1767, young Anthony's work in 
Nova Scotia came to an end because of the 
ominous character of the political outlook, he 
manied Mary, the daughter of Bartholomew 
Penrose, a prominent Philadelphia merchant, 
11 



Anthony Wayne 



and took her to his father's estate at Waynes- 
borough, in Chester County, Here he estab- 
lished a tannery and devoted himself to the 
management of it and the family estate. 

Wayne's work in Nova Scotia had en- 
larged his capacities and cultivated his abili- 
ties. It had been an experience in leadership 
that was especially valuable, and it had 
broadened his views of the world. 

Naturally in his new home life, wherein 
he was a manager of business operations and 
a leader of workmen, he still further culti- 
vated the abilities that had given him suc- 
cess in Nova Scotia. Moreover, he was 
elected by the people of the county to various 
local offices, and this not only strengthened 
his faculties as a leader of men, but it gave 
him opportunity to learn something — perhaps 
much — of the character of the American sys- 
tem of government that was then developing. 
It also gave him opportunity to strengthen 
that good-will among the people of his coun- 
ty (and of Philadelphia as well), which his 
previous work had created. 

In short, from the days when the stories 
of the war with the French and Indians in- 
cited him to organize his schoolmates for 
sham battles, wherein some got black eyes and 
12 



Youthful Experiences 

broken heads, down to tlie year 1774, when the 
death of his father threw hnn wholly upon his 
own resources, the life of Anthony Wayne 
was admirably adapted to fit him for leader- 
ship among men of affairs. 

The "controversy between Great Britain 
and her Colonies," in compelling him to aban- 
don the work of promoting the settlement of 
the Nova Scotia wilderness, had seemed to 
cut him off from a great opportunity for use- 
ful labor, but now that "controversy " was to 
open for him a career wherein he was to use 
with all his might, not only every natural ca- 
pacity and faculty he possessed, but all that 
he had been able to acquire through his un- 
usual experiences. At the death of his father, 
in 1774, the work of Anthony Wayne in the 
American Revolution was already begun. 



13 



CHAPTER II 

AS A CITIZEN OF THE COLONY OF PENNSYL- 
VANIA 

Of the life of Anthony Wayne during the 
stirring times immediately preceding the War 
of the Revolution we have many glimpses in 
the public documents that remain, if no com- 
plete account. Thus we find that when the 
Pennsylvania Assembly met in Philadelphia 
on October 14, 1774, Wayne was one of the 
"Representatives of the freemen " of Chester 
County. The first thing done in this Assem- 
bly, after the usual formalities of organiza- 
tion, was to add John Dickinson "to the com- 
mittee of deputies appointed ... to attend 
the General Congress now sitting in the City 
of Philadelphia on American Grievances." 
The next thing done was to resolve " That this 
House will provide an Entertainment to be 
given on Thursday next," to the members of 
this Congress-, and it was ordered that eight 
members, of whom Wayne was one, "be a 
committee to provide and superintend the said 
Entertainment." 

14 



As a Citizen of Pennsylvania 

Wayne and his neighbors, including the 
Quakers, who, from principle, would not 
fight, were firm in their opposition to the ag- 
gressions of the British ministry, and it was 
natural to expect the pugnacious schoolboy 
whose sham battles had given the combatants 
black eyes and broken heads would develop 
into a man who would be earnest in defending 
the natural rights of himself and his country- 
men. 

When the British ministry had deter- 
mined to send the tea to the American colonies 
in spite of the resolutions which the colonists 
had taken in refusing to buy it, several of 
the tea fleet, including the ship Polly, Captain 
Ayres, were headed for Philadelphia. On 
learning this the Philadelphians held a public 
meeting at the State-House on October 17, 
1773. At this meeting a committee was ap- 
pointed to "request " the agents of the tea 
company to resign. This committee duly rep- 
resented to the agents "the detestation and 
abhorrence " which any attempt to sell tea 
would cause, and also "the danger and difficul- 
ties which must attend so odious a trust," with 
the result that the agents resigned their com- 
missions. 

On December 25th the Polly reached Ches- 
15 



Anthony Wayne 



ter and was promptly reported to the people 
of Philadelphia. A committee of citizens 
rode down the river-bank, and at two o'clock 
next day hailed the Polly, when off Gloucester 
Point, and requested Captain Ayres to anchor 
and come ashore, which, on seeing the great 
throng gathered and the manifest earnestness 
of the people, he did. 

The committee represented to him "the 
danger and difficulties " that would attend any 
attempt to land the tea, and then took him to 
town to attend a public meeting wherein the 
number of people gathered was so great that 
the State-House could not hold them, and they 
"adjourned into the square." Here the fol- 
lowing resolutions were not only agreed to, 
but the public approbation was testified in the 
warmest manner. (Principles and Acts of 
Revolution, p. 171.) 

That the tea on board the ship Polly shall not 
he landed. 

That the captain shall be allowed to stay in 
town till to-morrow to provide necessaries for his 
voyage. 

That he shall then he ohliged to leave the town and 
proceed to his vessel, and make the best of his way 
out of our river and bay. 

The attitude and enthusiasm of the people 
16 



As a Citizen of Pennsylvania 

at the mass meeting', together with the vigi- 
lance and determination of the "committee of 
four gentlemen," awed Captain Ay res into 
leaving Delaware Bay and carrying the tea 
back to England. Destroying the tea was not 
necessary at Philadelphia, but that it would 
have been destroyed had an effort been made 
to land it is evident from the following ex- 
tract from the report of the public meeting 
where Captain Ayres was present : 

The assembly were then informed of the spirit 
and resolution of New York, Charleston, South 
Carolina, and the conduct of the people of Boston, 
whereupon it was unanimously resolved — 

That this assembly highly approve of the conduct 
and spirit of the people of New YorJc, Charleston and 
Boston, and return their hearty thanhs to the people of 
Boston for their resolution in destroying the tea, rather 
than suffering it to be landed. 

There is no record that Wayne was pres- 
ent at any of these proceedings, but it is likely 
enough that he had part in that eventful pub- 
lic meeting, and it is certain that he approved 
all that was done there. For not only was he 
forward in doing public honor to the first 
Continental Congress that assembled at 
Philadelphia (September 5, 1774), but when 
17 



Anthony Wayne 



a meeting of the people of Chester County 
was held "at the Court House in the Borough 
of Chester " (December 20, 1774), to choose a 
committee "to carry into execution the Asso- 
ciation of the late Continental Congress," 
Anthony Wayne was tlie first man selected 
for that committee, and his associates elected 
him chairman. 

Of the work of Anthony Wayne as a mem- 
ber of the Colonial Assembly at this time I 
have found one more fact memorable here. 
When it was moved (March 4, 1775) that 
"the Doors be opened and the reputable in- 
habitants admitted to hear the debates," the 
motion was lost, but Wayne was one of the 
fearless minority who were willing to express 
their opinions freely in public. 

After the assault of the British troops 
upon the minutemen at Lexington, Mass. 
(April 19, 1775), the Chester County Commit- 
tee of Safety held a meeting (May 15), at 
which it was unanimously resolved that it was 
the "indispensable duty of all the freemen 
of" Chester County "immediately to form 
and enter into associations for the purpose of 
Icarn'uKj the mU'itary art^ "And we solemnly 
engage to promote such associations to the 
utmost of our power." 
18 



As a Citizen of Pennsylvania 

Wayne had very clear ideas of his duties 
as a patriot at this time, and others equally 
clear on the practical work to be done ; for 
the committee resolved that "no powder be ex- 
pended in this county," except as directed by 
the committee. And it was further resolved 
that the committee meet "to consult, the Jus- 
tices, Grand Jury, and Board of Commission- 
ers and Assessors on ways and means to pro- 
cure a projjer quantity of Arms and Amuni- 
tion for use of this county." 

Wayne was fully convinced that the colo- 
nies would all be involved in war, and he 
began to study every book on military tactics 
and the art of war that he could obtain. 
Every history that gave a description of bat- 
tles was as eagerly read as text-books for a 
military academy would have been, if within 
his reach. Marshal Saxe's Campaigns was 
his favorite work, as his letters show. 

Further than that, Wayne put in practise 
as well as he could all that he learned about 
the manual of arms and the maneuvering of 
troops. "Every day which he could spare 
from other public duties, he devoted to per- 
forming the service of drill officer, and in- 
fusing into the minds of his fellow citizens a 
knowledge of military science." He was a 
19 



Anthony Wayne 



man of whom Carlyle might have said that he 
fully understood that "the All of Things is 
an infinite conjugation of the verb To Do." 
"His growing popularity brought to his 
standard large assemblages of the youths of 
Chester County wherever he appointed a 
drill, and the confidence which they reposed in 
his skill and intrepidity was an earnest of the 
most prompt and strict attention to his or- 
ders should the occasion come " for giving or- 
ders in time of battle. 

In those days — the summer of 1775 — the 
activity of the patriotic Pennsylvanians was 
so great that John Adams, on observing it, 
wrote from Philadelphia that one "would 
burst to see whole companies of armed Qua- 
kers in that city, in uniforms, going through 
the manual." 

And yet these men sincerely deprecated 
the idea (which their enemies advanced) that 
they were seeking the independence of the col- 
onies. On September 25, 1775, the Chester 
County Committee declared by unanimous 
vote "their abhorrence even of an idea so per- 
nicious in its nature, as they ardently wish 
for nothing more than a happy and speedy 
reconciliation on constitutional principles." 

From the head of the Chester County 
20 



As a Citizen of Pennsylvania 

Committee Wayne was promoted to a place on 
the Colonial Committee of Safety, by the 
resolution of the Provincial Assembly on 
June 30, 1775. There were 25 men in this 
Colonial Committee, and among them were 
Benjamin Franklin, John Dickinson, and 
Robert Morris. One notes (see Force's 
Archives) that the resolution places the word 
"Gentlemen " at the end of the list of names. 

On this day the Assembly also urged each 
county to provide "good new Firelocks, with 
Bayonets fitted to them " — in all 4,500 for the 
province — and the fact that bayonets were 
mentioned is presumptive evidence that 
Wayne had a hand in wording the resolution. 
Moreover, the Assembly urged that enough 
minutemen be enlisted to use the firelocks, 
and that ammunition be provided for them. 
The Assembly also voted to pay £20 for every 
hundredweight of saltpeter that any one 
would manufacture in the province, and au- 
thorized the issue of bills of credit to the 
value of £25,000. 

Of the work of the Provincial Committee 
of Safety, it is worth noting that at the first 
meeting it resolved that the barrels of the 
muskets to be carried by the Pennsylvania 
soldiers should "be three feet eight inches in 
21 



Anthony Wayne 



length, well fortified, the bore of sufficient 
size to carry seventeen balls to the pound." 

Thereafter committees were appointed to 
look after the collection of military supplies. 
Doctor Franklin was "requested to procure 
the model of a Pike." The construction of a 
provincial navy to defend the river received 
careful attention. Wayne had an active hand 
in providing men for the crews of these boats, 
and in connection with this work we find in 
the minutes of the proceedings for July 15, 
1775, that he was officially mentioned as 
Colonel Wayne. 

On August 3d Wayne was appointed one 
of a subcommittee to write the rules and regu- 
lations for the government of the militia and 
naval forces of the province. But to avoid 
details that might prove wearisome it may be 
said that Wayne was a most active member 
of this committee, and he had a personal part 
in the most important work done until the 7th 
of February, 1776. 

In the meantime, however. Congress, in 
preparing to resist the invading British, had 
requested (October 12, 1775) Pennsylvania 
to raise a battalion of infantry, at the exj^ense 
of the continent, to consist of 8 companies, 
each of which was to have 68 privates, with 1 
22 



As a Citizen of Pennsylvania 

captain, 1 lieutenant, and 1 ensign, besides 8 
non-commissioned ojfficers. On December 9t'h, 
Congress ordered that four more battalions of 
the same size be raised in Pennsylvania, and 
it was resolved that the Pennsylvania Com- 
mittee of Safety be asked to choose "a num- 
ber of gentlemen, to be recommended to the 
Congress as proper persons to be appointed 
colonels " of the four battalions. 

Accordingly, on January 3d, a meeting of 
the committee was held, with 24 members 
present and Franklin in the chair. It appears 
that they began with the Fourth Battalion, 
for which Wayne was unanimously recom- 
mended by his associates on the committee. 
John Shee then received 23 votes for colonel 
of the Third, Arthur St. Clair 23 for colonel 
of the Second, and Robert Magan 20 for colo- 
nel of the First. 

On the same day the Congress confirmed 
the choice thus made, and the commission of 
Anthony Wayne as a colonel in the Conti- 
nental service bore that date. 



23 



CHAPTER III 

IN THE EARLY DAYS OF THE WAR 

Anthony Wayne was just thirty years 
old when he was made commander of the 
Fourth Pennsylvania Battalion. He was 
above the average in height — "a handsome 
manly figure " — with dark waving hair, deep 
hazel eyes, and a frank and animated expres- 
sion of the face that was wonderfully attract- 
ive. How far his looks depicted his character 
shall appear in the course of this memoir, but 
it may be observed here that he was fastidious 
in his dress to a point that eventually gave 
him the name of "Dandy " Wayne. And be- 
cause this peculiarity of his character was 
manifested in notable fashion at one of the 
most interesting events of his career, it seems 
worth while to say something more about it 
here. It is certain, first of all, that he was 
quite as anxious to have his men elegantly 
clothed as he was to wear a fine uniform him- 
self. Stille speaks of Wayne's "apparent 
anxiety for the military appearance of " his 
men as a "little piece of pardonable vanity," 



In the Early Days of the War 

and adds that it seems "amusing enough when 
we recall the rough hard work which his regi- 
ment had to do." But the fact is that the de- 
sire for clothes for himself and men did not by 
any means rest on vanity. The matter was the 
subject of correspondence between Wayne 
and Washington. In a letter dated July 8, 
1779 (when the assault on Stony Point was 
near at hand), Wayne wrote to Washington 
to call attention to the "difficulty that the light 
corps experience in receiving the necessary 
supplies of clothing," and suggests a plan for 
procuring what was desirable. He then says 
that with the clothing thus to be procured "I 
flatter myself that we shall have it in our 
power to introduce uniformity among the 
light corps belonging to the respective states, 
and infuse a laudable pride and emulation into 
the whole, uhich, in a soldier, are a substitute 
for almost every other virtue. 

"I must acknowledge that I have an in- 
superable bias in favor of an elegant uniform 
and soldierly appearance; so much so, that I 
would rather risk my life and reputation at 
the head of the same men in an attack, clothed 
and appointed as I could wish, merely with 
bayonets and a single charge of ammunition, 
than to take them as they appear in common, 
3 25 



Anthony Wayne 



with sixty rounds of cartridges. It may be a 
false idea, but I cannot help cherishing it." 

And let it not be forgotten that Washing- 
ton replied to this: "/ agree perfectly with you 
as to the importance of dress." 

Of the men Wayne first commanded we 
have a few glimpses worth reproducing. 
Bloodgood, the author of the Sexagenary, 
when a boy of twelve years, was employed as 
a teamster to haul supplies from Albany to 
the American forces in Canada during the 
winter of 1775-76, and the First Pennsylvania 
Battalion overhauled his convoy on the road 
to Lake Champlain. Bloodgood writes : 

They were the most quarrelsome, and I regret 
to say, profligate set of men I had ever seen to- 
gether. They had plenty of money with them, and 
spent it profusely. The vices of insubordination, 
gambling and rioting, marked their battalia, and 
we ourselves had great trouble with them. 

After making due allowance for the prej- 
udices of the boy "who had great trouble with 
them," it seems likely that this is not an un- 
fair portrayal of Wayne's men as well as 
those of the First Battalion. They were bois- 
terous on their way to Canada — had fist fights 
not a few among themselves, doubtless — and 
26 



In the Early Days of the War 

it is certain that they were not overtender of 
the feelings of teamsters along the way. 

Remembering that all the colonies lying 
southwest of the Delaware River were called 
"southern," the following from Thatcher's 
J ournal is of interest : 

Since the troops from the Southern states have 
been associated in military duty with those from 
New England, a strong prejudice has assumed its 
unhappy influence, and drawn a line of distinction 
betAveen them. Many of the officers from the South 
are gentlemen of education, and unaccustomed to 
that equality M^hich prevails in New England. . . . 
Hence we too frequently hear the burlesque epi- 
thet of Yankee from one party and that of Buck- 
skin, by way of retort, from the other. 

Under date of December 26, 1777 (when 
Wayne was in command at Ticonderoga), 
Thatcher writes this : 

A singular kind of riot took place in our bar- 
racks last evening. Colonel A. W., of Massachu- 
setts, made choice of his two sons, who were soldiers 
in his regiment, to discharge the menial duties of 
waiters, and one of them having been brought up a 
shoemaker, the Colonel was so inconsiderate as to 
allow him to work on his bench in the same room 
with himself. This ridiculous conduct has for 

27 



Anthony Wayne 



some time drawn on the good old man the con- 
temptuous sneers of the gentlemen officers, espe- 
cially those from Pennsylvania. Lieutenant- Colo- 
nel C, of Wayne's regiment, being warmed with 
wine, took on himself the task of reprehending the 
" Yankee " Colonel for thus degraamg his rank. 
"With this view he rushed into the room in the even- 
ing and soon despatched the shoemaker's bench, 
after which he made an assault upon the Colonel's 
person, and bruised him severely. The noise and 
confusion soon collected a number of officers and 
soldiers, and it was a considerable time before the 
rioters could be quelled. Some of the soldiers of 
Colonel Wayne's regiment actually took to their 
arms and dared the Yankees, and then proceeded 
to the extremity of firing their guns. About thirty 
or forty rounds were aimed at the soldiers of our 
regiment, who were driven from their barracks, and 
several of them were severely wounded. ... As 
if to complete the disgrace of the transaction, 
Colonel C. sent some soldiers into the woods to 
shoot a fat deer, with which he made an entertain- 
ment, and invited Colonel W. and his officers to 
partake of it; this effected a reconciliation. 

Elsewhere Thatcher describes the Penn- 
sylvanians as "remarkably stout and hardy 
men, many of them exceeding six feet in 
height. They are dressed in white frocks or 
rifle shirts, and round hats." He adds that 
28 



In the Early Days of the War 

they were remarkable for the accuracy of 
their aim, "striking a mark with great cer- 
tainty at two hundred yards distance." It 
should be observed, however, that only a few 
of the Pennsylvanians were experts with their 
rifles. These were quick to exhibit their skill, 
and thus all the others came to be regarded as 
experts. 

For some weeks after receiving his com- 
mission (January 3, 1776), Wayne was em- 
ployed in training his men and teaching them 
the value of discipline. That he had a long- 
time task in hand is apparent from what has 
already been noted about their conduct in gar- 
rison. The sturdy American spirit, even in 
a colony like Pennsylvania, where class dis- 
tinctions were recognized to some extent, did 
not take kindly to the necessary subordina- 
tion of an army. It is recorded that Wayne 
had to flog six of his men for desertion dur- 
ing the early training days. 

On February 20, 1776, Congress ordered 
Wayne to march with his battalion to New 
York, and two days later orders were issued 
"to quicken Colonel Wayne in getting his bat- 
talion ready ; and that as fast as he can get a 
company properly equipped he cause it im- 
mediately to march to New York." 
29 



Anthony Wayne 



It appears that Wayne was doing his work 
of drilling the men thoroughly, and that it 
was only on the positive order of Congress 
that he sent away his battalion piecemeal. It 
appears also that muskets were not to be had, 
and Wayne was loath to send forward un- 
armed men. There were three companies in 
the first detachment, and they appeared in the 
"General Return" of the 10,235 men under 
Washington at New York on April 28th. The 
remainder went forward later, and eventually 
Wayne himself, with three companies only, 
was sent from New York to Canada. 

For in the meantime (May, 1775), patriots 
in Massachusetts and Connecticut had turned 
their thoughts toward Lake Champlain, "the 
Northern Gateway." Ticonderoga and Crown 
Point were captured and held, and on June 
27th Congress ordered General Philip Schuy- 
ler "immediately to take possession of St. 
Johns and Montreal." 

The disastrous assault upon Quebec (De- 
cember 31, 1775) and the long and painful, 
but most glorious siege of the city (January 
to May, 177&), followed. 

Few more remarkable stories of war can 
be found than that of this siege of Quebec. 
For the besieging forces numbered less than 
30 



In the Early Days of the War 

800 at best. There were dissensions of a 
character that bordered on mutiny among 
them. They were not well clothed. They 
were living in tents in the midst of Canadian 
winter storms. They had no cannon suitable 
for battering the city walls, and the supply 
.of ammunition was scant. 

Smallpox became epidemic in the camp in 
February, and the effective force was reduced 
to less than 500 men. And yet by their 
unconquerable spirit and energy they held 
Carleton and 1,800 well-provided men close 
prisoners. And it was only because they had 
been absolutely destitute of gold throughout 
the campaign that they failed at last. 

The experiences in Canada were worth 
gaining (if only the lessons might never be 
forgotten!). And among those who went 
there and gained knowledge from experience 
was Anthony Wayne. 



31 



CHAPTER IV 

WAYNE'S FIRST BATTLE 

As it happened, Wayne reached Canada 
too late to have any part in the siege of Que- 
bec. 

On the morning of May 5th General John 
Thomas, who had come to command the be- 
sieging force, "had certain intelligence that 
a [British] fleet was coming up the river " 
and was near by. Not more than 150 pounds 
of powder remained in the magazines, and 
there was on hand food for but three days. 
A retreat was at last inevitable. 

The retreat began early the next day. As 
Thomas was placing his sick on the bateaux 
to transport them up the river five British 
war-ships appeared, and in spite of the clog- 
ging ice in the lower harbor, three of them 
worked in, and sent ashore their marines and 
a part of a regiment of regulars. Thus re- 
enforced, Carleton marched out of the city 
at the head of 1,000 men and six pieces of 
artillery. Only 250 Americans, armed and in 
good health, remained on the ground at this 
32 



Wayne's First Battle 

time to oppose him, and tliey retreated rap- 
idly enough to escape, although they had 
some sick with them. They reached the 
mouth of the Sorel River, the outlet of Lake 
Champlain, on May 12th. 

And Carleton, who, with 1,800 well-pro- 
vided men, had been held a close prisoner by 
500 ill-clad, half-armed, half-starved Amer- 
icans during the winter, when reporting this 
sortie, said he "marched out of the ports St. 
Louis and St. John's to see what the mighty 
boasters were about." 

In the meantime (April 25th), General 
Washington, who was then at New York, re- 
ceived orders to send six more battalions to 
Canada under General John Sullivan, who out- 
ranked Thomas. And with Sullivan went 
Colonel Anthony Wayne and three compa- 
nies of his battalion. 

A letter from Wayne to Washington, writ- 
ten at Albany on May 14th, shows that not un- 
til the day he wrote had his men received mus- 
kets : and not all the muskets received were in 
good repair. But finally, on June 2d, Sullivan 
and his men, including Wayne's battalion, 
reached Sorel, the village at the mouth of the 
outlet of Lake Champlain, to which Thomas 
had retreated. 

33 



Anthony Wayne 



Thomas died of smallpox on the day that 
Sullivan arrived, and because of that dis- 
ease the American force was in desperate 
straits. But it was by no means disheart- 
ened. A rumor having reached camp that an 
advance British force of from 400 to 800 men 
had taken post at Three Rivers, Colonel Ar- 
thur St. Clair had obtained permission to go 
down the river with 600 men and try to cap- 
ture the post by surprise. He departed for 
Nicolet a few hours before Sullivan arrived, 
and Sullivan, on learning what was to be 
done, at once sent General William Thomp- 
son, with a still larger force, to join in and 
take command of the expedition. 

With Thompson went Colonel Wayne, who 
had under him all told 202 men. Thompson 
overtook St. Clair at Nicolet, late in the night 
of June 6th, and the next night the united 
forces, amounting to 1,450 men, "all Penn- 
sylvanians except Maxwell's battalion" (a 
force of 483 Jerseymen), crossed the river, 
and landed at two o'clock in the morning. 

It was a hopeless expedition from the 
start, for instead of a British colonel with 
800 men having a post at Three Rivers, some 
thousands of British troops and several war- 
ships had advanced that far on the way to 
34 



Wayne's First Battle 

Montreal. To cross the river was to invite 
the destruction of the entire American com- 
mand, but to add to the probabilities of that 
destruction, the command landed nine miles 
from the point of attack, and then marched 
toward Three Rivers, led by guides who took 
them astray through winding paths so long 
that the morning of June 8th came before 
they arrived in sight of the town. 

After crossing the river, Thompson di- 
vided his force into five divisions, four for at- 
tack on the post and one for reserve. Colo- 
nels Maxwell, St. Clair, Wayne, and Irvine 
had command of the attacking divisions. 

As the command, with St. Clair's division 
in the lead, hurried forward in the growing 
day, they saw the river filled with armed 
ships whose broadsides would sweep the river- 
road, and Thompson therefore turned off to 
the north until clear of the fire from the ship- 
ping, and then marched on parallel with the 
river. A thick wood before him seemed to 
offer an admirable shelter through which he 
might pass to get in the rear of the force sup- 
posed to be encamped near Three Rivers. 
But on entering the woods the men found it a 
swamp, three miles wide, in which they sank 
to their belts most of the time, and it was four 
35 



Anthony Wayne 



hours before they emerged from the swamp 
into the open fields lying on the point of land 
between two of the rivers (St. Maurice and 
St. Lawrence), that unite where the village 
of Three Rivers stood. 

And as the bedraggled Americans ap- 
peared in view General Fraser ran from the 
midst of the British camp to the edge of the 
bluff and shouted to the war-ships : 

" ' For God's sake, wake up, and send 
ashore all the guns you possibly can! The 
rebels are coming — two or three thousand of 
them. They're within a mile of the town ! ' " 
(Quoted by Justin Smith.) 

Though the exact number of the British 
force on shore is not given, we know that it 
was ample to annihilate the American com- 
mand. And although apparently surprised 
when the "rebels " appeared, Fraser was 
prompt in leading forth his veterans. 

Accordingly, when Wayne and his battal- 
ion (who had obtained the lead in wading 
through the forest-covered swamp) reached 
the open ground, a strong British column 
marched to meet them. At the same time a 
number of men-of-war opened fire, and Wayne 
found himself within range of their shot. 

Nevertheless, Wayne sent a company of 
36 



Wayne's First Battle 

light infantry "to advance and amuse" the 
enemy, and then, after forming the remain- 
der of his battalion in line of battle, he 
marched on until within short range, when he 
swung the two ends of his line forward until 
his force was in the form of a crescent em- 
bracing the head of the British column. Then 
he "poured in a well Aimed and heavy fire." 
"They attempted to Retreat in good order," 
writes Wayne in his report, "but in a few 
minutes broke and ran in the utmost confu- 
sion." The cross-fire from Wayne's crescent 
was too much even for British regulars. 

A little later a fresh force of British 
opened a heavy fire "with musketry, field- 
pieces, howitzers, &c.," on Wayne's right 
flank. But Wayne now formed his men in 
column, and seeing Maxwell coming from the 
swamp, off to the left, and the other Amer- 
ican divisions coming out of the swamp to 
take position on his right, he marched 
straight forward toward the enemy's camp, 
but only to find that breastworks had been 
thrown up to protect the position, and that 
the force behind the works far exceeded his 
own. 

As he approached within musket range of 
the breastworks Wayne looked about to see 
37 



Anthony Wayne 

where his supporting columns were. He saw 
that a superior force was driving Maxwell 
back to the swamp, while the combined fire 
from the ships and British regulars on his 
right had been so deadly that two divisions 
there, though led by General Thompson in 
person, had been compelled to retreat also. 
In fact, Wayne, with a few more than 200 
men, was left on the field where the fire of 
more than 3,000 British regulars, besides 
that of the guns on the ships, was to be con- 
centrated upon him. 

A retreat was necessary to save the di- 
vision, and it was made. At the edge of the 
woods, however, the American reserves were 
found, and Wayne rallied his men, collected 
as many as he could from other divisions (in 
all nearly 800), and made a stand until it was 
seen that the enemy were coming in over- 
whelming numbers. Then detachment after 
detachment marched away until only 20 rifle- 
men and 6 officers remained beside Wayne. 
And with this small squad he held his ground 
for an hour. 

By driving home the first column of Brit- 
ish that came to the attack, and by advancing 
with his tiny column to the breastworks of 
the enemy, Wayne had kept the British from 
38 



Wayne's First Battle 

coming out in sufficient force to cut off tlie 
Americans while tliey were on the open 
ground. And now when retreat was inevi- 
table, Wayne, with 26 good men by his side, 
stood his ground for an hour, and held the 
enemy in check while the Americans escaped 
through the swamp. 



39 



CHAPTER V 

ON THE RETREAT TO TICONDEROGA 

After passing througli tlie swamp "Wayne 
overhauled and gathered into an orderly com- 
mand between 600 and 700 men. When they 
were nine miles from the field of battle a de- 
tachment of British regulars, estimated at 
from 700 to 1,500 men, "waylaid and en- 
gaged " the retreating Americans. But they 
*'did us little damage," says Wayne. The 
boats had been taken from the landing-place 
by the guard left with them, in order to keep 
them from being captured by the British war- 
ships, and Wayne was obliged to march up 
along the north side of the St. Lawrence until 
opposite Sorel before he could cross. But on 
the "third day almost worn out with fatigue, 
Hunger & Difficulties, scarcely to be paral- 
leled, we arrived with 1100 men." 

General Thompson, Colonel Irvine, and a 

number of other officers were taken prisoners. 

The total American loss was over 200, of 

whom 150 were prisoners and the remainder 

40 



On the Retreat to Ticonderoga 

killed and wounded — a mere trifle considering 
the force of the enemy. Wayne received a 
slight wound on the leg. The British loss was 
never learned, but one American officer wrote 
that their number of killed was greater than 
ours, and he adds, "Upon the whole we were 
repulsed, not beaten." 

General Sullivan, on reaching Sorel, had 
been exceedingly hopeful of driving the Brit- 
ish from Canada. He now learned that they 
had an overwhelming force (13,000 regulars), 
that they were advancing toward Montreal, 
and that only by a prompt retreat could his 
force be saved from capture. On June 14th 
the British fleet was seen coming up the St. 
Lawrence. Sullivan immediately broke camp 
and retreated up the Sorel toward Lake 
Champlain, taking all the camp equipment 
and munitions ; but there was some confusion 
in the retreat. 

Meantime Arnold, who commanded at 
Montreal, sent Major James Wilkinson, his 
aid, to Sullivan to ask for reenforcements. 
Wilkinson in after-years became a most de- 
testable traitor, and nothing he says in his 
Memoirs is to be trusted where there was any 
motive, real or imaginary, in his mind for 
misrepresenting the facts. But here he had 
4 41 



Anthony Wayne 



no such motive. On meeting Sullivan at 
Chambly, Wilkinson says lie was sent up the 
river with orders to Baron de Woedtke (a 
German volunteer), who commanded the rear- 
guard, to detach 500 men to Arnold's aid. 
Rain was falling and the mud was ankle 
deep, but Wilkinson started away on his 
errand. 

"I found every hoase and hut in my route 
crowded with stragglers," he says, "men with- 
out officers and officers without men. . . . 
Despondency had seized all ranks, and under 
favor of a dark and tempestuous night, with 
500 fresh men, the whole army could have 
been destroyed." 

Next morning he met Lieutenant-Colonel 
William Allen, of St. Clair's regiment, to 
whom he told his errand. Allen said: 

"This army is conquered by its fears, and 
I doubt whether you can draw assistance 
from it ; but Colonel Wayne is in the rear, and 
if any one can do it, he is the man." 

"Half an hour afterward," continues Wil- 
kinson, "I met that gallant soldier as much at 
his ease as if he was marching to a parade of 
exercise, and without hesitation he deter- 
mined to carry the order into execution if pos- 
sible. For this purpose he halted at a bridge 
42 



On the Retreat to Ticonderoga 

and posted a guard with orders to stop every 
man, without respect to corps, who appeared 
to be active, alert and equipped. In less 
than an hour the detachment was completely 
formed, and in motion for Longuille " — the 
town on the south side of the St. Lawrence op- 
posite Montreal. "It was observable that 
those very men, who had been only the day be- 
fore retreating in confusion before a division 
of the enemy, now marched with alacrity 
against his main body ! " 

After marching on this road two miles, 
Wayne learned that Arnold had escaped, and 
therefore turned toward Chambly. He was 
on a road on which the main body of Amer- 
icans were looking for the enemy to appear, 
and when he arrived in view of the American 
camp, says Wilkinson, "we were taken for the 
enemy, and great alarm and confusion en- 
sued in the main body of troops; the drums 
beat to arms, and General Sullivan and his 
officers were observed making great exertions 
to prepare for battle, but numbers were seen 
to seek safety in flight. Colonel Wayne 
halted his column, pulled out his glass, and 
seemed to enjoy the panic his appearance had 
produced." 

It is not to be noted alone that Wayne was 
43 



Anthony Wayne 



entirely self-possessed and at his ease during 
all this time ; the most important fact is that 
he was able here, as at Three Rivers, to col- 
lect untrained men as they fled from the 
enemy, and form them into an orderly com- 
mand, apparently as cool as himself, and 
ready to march against the main body of the 
enemy. 

From Chambly the army retreated to St. 
John's. There the bateaux were loaded with 
all the munitions of war, including all the can- 
non save three pieces considered worthless, 
and after firing everything about the fort 
that would burn, the men shoved the bateaux 
up the rapids (six miles), officers as well as 
men wading in, neck deep, to push them 
against the current, and so they carried every- 
thing safely to Isle aux Noix, and thence, 
after a time, to Crown Point, where the army 
arrived on July 2, 1776. 

A count at this post showed that Sullivan 
had 5,000 men all told, but of this force one- 
half were in the hospitals. The smallpox 
that had broken out before Quebec had spread 
to the reenforcements as they arrived in Can- 
ada. In spite of orders to the contrary, men 
and officers inoculated themselves with the 
virus, for it was observed that a smaller per 
44 



On the Retreat to Ticonderoga 

cent died wlien inoculated than when the dis- 
ease was taken in the ordinary way. In all, 
nearly 10,000 men, including militia, were sent 
into Canada in the early months of 1776, but 
of these only 2,500 were fit for battle on the 
day the Declaration of Independence was pro- 
claimed at Philadelphia. 

Nearly all historians speak of this cam- 
paign in Canada as disastrous to the colonial 
cause, and they say the army "failed because 
of neglect" (Lossing). But in the long run 
failure was better for the cause of American 
liberty than success. While the British were 
triumphant there was no hope that they would 
make any concessions to armed colonists, and 
the colonists were therefore compelled against 
their will to prepare for a prolonged war. 
The Declaration of Independence was made 
necessary by the failure to capture Quebec, 
and the war for absolute liberty followed on 
the retreat of the American army to Crown 
Point. 

In saving the army Sullivan had done 
well, but Congress thought an "experienced 
general " was needed at the head of the 
Northern Army. There were but two experi- 
enced generals of the requisite rank in the 
American forces — the traitor Charles Lee 
45 



Anthony Wayne 



and the incompetent Gates. These men had 
held rank and had seen considerable service 
in the British army; Gates was a captain 
under Braddock, for instance. Both were 
soldiers of fortune in the American army, and 
both exerted a most baleful influence on the 
American cause. But Lee was at first or- 
dered to Lake Champlain, and then Gates was 
substituted. Sullivan resigned when super- 
seded, but he was persuaded to remain in the 
army, and the field-officers under him wrote 
him a complimentary letter on July 8. It was 
one that he had fully earned, and Wayne was 
one of the signers. 

On July 7th General Gates and General 
Schuyler having arrived meantime, a council 
of war considered the situation at Crown 
Point. It decided that the place was "not 
tenable . . . not capable of being made so 
this summer." It was therefore resolved to 
retire to Ticonderoga. Twenty-one field-offi- 
cers sent a written protest to General Schuy- 
ler, urging him to remain at Crown Point, but 
Wayne was not one of the number. Wash- 
ington, who supposed that the post was 
stronger than it was, was surprised to learn 
that it was to be evacuated, but the fact was 
that the army would have been captured 
46 



On the Retreat to Ticonderoga 

there, once tlie enemy gained control of the 
lake, as they eventually did. 

Accordingly the army was transferred to 
Ticonderoga, beginning in the middle of July, 
and the sick were sent on to Fort George. At 
Ticonderoga it was determined to make a final 
stand. To view this stand came Carleton 
after his victory over the little American fleet 
(October 11th) gave him command of the lake. 
But "the strength of the works, the difficulty 
of approach, the countenance of the enenii/, with 
other cogent reasons prevented this design 
from taking place." After a little reconnoi- 
tering Carleton retreated to Canada, and went 
into winter quarters. 

In the meantime Washington had been 
driven from New York, across New Jersey, 
and on December 8th he crossed the Delaware 
in his retreat, having with him but 3,000 men. 
"The days that try men's souls " were upon 
the patriots. But when Carleton, disheart- 
ened by a view of "the countenance " of the 
Americans, retreated, seven regiments were 
detached from the garrison at Ticonderoga 
and sent to join Washington; and when thus 
reenforced he was able to recross the Dela- 
ware. The capture of 1,000 Hessians at Tren- 
ton (December 26th) and the victory at 
47 



Anthony Wayne 



Princeton (January 3, 1777) followed, and 
the British forces were finally housed at New 
Brunswick, Amboy, and Paulus Hook. 

During the days while Carleton was on 
the lake, Wayne had part in an important 
piece of work that never amounted to any- 
thing because General Gates gave no attention 
to the matter. Colonel John Trumble, who 
was then an adjutant on Gates's staff, became 
convinced that Carleton, on coming to Ticon- 
deroga, would turn the American left, cross 
the north end of Lake George, and place a 
battery on top of Mount Defiance, a hill 600 
feet high, standing at the end of the long 
point of land between Lake George and Lake 
.Champlain. 

"I was ridiculed for advancing such an ex- 
travagant idea," Trumbull says in his auto- 
biography, but with a long 12-pounder located 
in the Mount Independence works, he made 
trial of the range, and although the gun 
was loaded with two shot, it threw them more 
than half-way to the top. 

There was now no denying that the moun- 
tain top was within range of the American 
works, "but still it was insisted upon that this 
summit was inaccessible to an enemy." 
Thereupon Trumbull took "General Arnold, 
48 



On the Retreat to Ticonderoga 

Colonel Wayne, and several other active offi- 
cers " in Gates's barge and landed "at the foot 
of the hill where it was most precipitous and 
rocky. . . . The ascent ivas difficult and labo- 
rious, but we clambered to the summit in a 
short time. . . . And when we looked down 
upon the outlet of Lake George, it was obvi- 
ous to "all that there could be no difficulty in 
driving up a loaded carriage." 

A proper report of this expedition was 
made by the party to Gates, but with the lofty 
contempt which all the foreigners in the 
American army held for the native officers, 
the matter was ignored. When Burgoyne 
drove St. Clair from Ticonderoga in 1777 it 
was because Gates had ignored the report of 
this party, of whom Wayne was one. 

When Carleton had returned to Canada 
and the seven regiments of Continentals were 
sent to reenforce Washington, Wayne was 
placed (November 18, 1776) in command at 
the Ticonderoga fortifications. On Novem- 
ber 29th he had 2,451 men all told under his 
command, but of these only 1,109 were fit for 
duty. 

By the British plan of action two great 
armies had been sent to America to sever the 
patriotic forces. Howe had taken New York 
49 



Anthony Wayne 



and was overrimning New Jersey. Carleton 
had retreated to Canada, but it was by no 
means unlikely that he would advance once 
more to Ticonderoga when the ice on the lake 
was thick enough to bear the weight of an 
army, and this advance was particularly to 
be feared when he should hear of the deple- 
tion of the American garrison. In view of 
the British plans, therefore, the two most im- 
portant commands in the patriot army were 
those opposed to the two great invading ar- 
mies. The chief post of honor was that op- 
posed to Howe, and the second was that where 
Anthony Wayne sat down to guard the North- 
ern Gateway. By good work, and good work 
only, Wayne advanced that far in his first 
campaign. 



50 



CHAPTER VI 

IN COMMAND AT TICONDEROGA 

The views which the documents of the 
period give of Wayne and his men at Ticon- 
deroga are most interesting. To show the 
spirit of the men it may be related that when 
Carleton was supposed to be coming to at- 
tack the old fort, 100 Pennsylvanians, who 
were in the hospital at Fort George, and who, 
in some cases, had already been discharged 
from service, on hearing the news that Carle- 
ton was coming, got off their beds, buckled on 
their equipments, and "immediately returned 
to this place determined to conquer or die 
with their countrymen." 

But when all danger from Carleton's 
army was over for the season the men began 
to think of home. There were many good 
reasons why they should do this. Wayne 
himself described Ticonderoga as "the last 
part of the world that God made & I have 
some reason to believe it was finished in the 
dark." The men were "destitute of almost 
51 



Anthony Wayne 



every necessary fit for a soldier. Shoes, 
stockings, shirts and coats are articles not 
easily done without, yet they cannot be ob- 
tained," says Wayne in one letter. In an- 
other (to Dr. Franklin) he says of his men, 
"tho' poorly and thinly clad, . . . the fatigue 
they have undergone in the place is inex- 
pressible." 

On December 4, 1776, in a letter to the 
Pennsylvania committee, he completes the 
picture of the distress of his men. He says : 
" The wretched conditions they are now in for 
want of almost every necessary of the conve- 
nience of life, except flour and bad beef, is 
shocking to humanity and beggars all descrip- 
tion. We have neither beds nor bedding for 
our sick to lay on, or under, other than their 
own clothing; no medicine or regimen suit- 
able for them; the dead and dying laying 
mingled together in our hospital, or rather 
house of carnage, is no uncommon sight. 
These are objects truly worthy of your no- 
tice." 

Then, fearing greatly the evils of a stand- 
ing army, and knowing nothing of the neces- 
sity of giving men a thorough training before 
sending them into battle. Congress had en- 
listed men for one year only. The time of 
52 



In Command at Ticonderoga 

Wayne's own battalion was to expire on 
January 3, 1777, and that of other battal- 
ions expired earlier. 

Foreseeing that he could not hold the gar- 
rison much beyond the terms for which the 
men had enlisted, Wayne began to make ap- 
peals for fresh troops. Schuyler forwarded 
appeals also, but Congress was loaded with all 
kinds of executive as well as legislative work, 
and the time passed without any proper ef- 
fort being made to relieve the distresses of 
the garrison or to replace the men. 

In February a crisis came. A company of 
riflemen under a Captain Neilson had been 
attached to Wayne's battalion (November 
15th), and had been kept in the fort after their 
time expired because Wayne's battalion re- 
mained. But on the night of February 19th 
they determined they would equip themselves 
and on the next day "force their way through 
all opposition." Accordingly, at gun-fire they 
formed in column, and were just starting to 
leave when Wayne confronted them and de- 
manded to know "the cause of such con- 
duct." 

"They began in tumultuous manner to in- 
form me," wrote Wayne, "that their time 
of enlistment was expired, and that they 
53 



Anthony Wayne 



looked upon themselves as at liberty to go 
home." 

They kept marching on as they shouted 
this explanation, but Wayne ordered them, in 
a manner that compelled obedience, to halt, 
and then he directed some leader to step out 
and speak for them. A sergeant obeyed. 
Wayne "presented a pistol at his breast," and 
the man fell on his knees and begged for life. 
Then the company, on command, grounded 
arms. 

A short address by Wayne led the com- 
pany to agree to remain, but "a certain Jonah 
Holida," of Captain Coe's company, endeav- 
ored to excite the company to mutiny again, 
and in Wayne's presence. When Wayne be- 
gan to question him, Holida "justified his con- 
duct" — answered insolently and most impu- 
dently, for which Wayne instantly knocked 
him down. 

"I thought proper to chastise him for his 
Insolence on the spot before the men, and then 
sent him to answer for his Crime to the main 
Guard," says Wayne. And when Captain Coe 
came to Wayne and said he knew "the cause 
for which his soldier was struck and con- 
fined," and expressed the opinion "that every 
Soldier had a Eight to Deliver his Sentiments 
54 



In Command at Ticonderoga 

on every Occasion without being punished," 
Wayne put him under arrest as an "abettor 
of Mutiny." 

The incident is memorable as showing that 
Wayne was a fighting man in more than one 
way — he could and would knock a man down 
if need be — and because it shows, too, what 
ideas of discipline prevailed among the offi- 
cers under Wayne. 

"Our garrison is now very weak," says 
Wayne in the letter in which he describes this 
mutiny. "If you have any good troops, he 
they ever so few, pray send them on with all 
possible despatch. I would rather risk my 
life and reputation and the fate of America 
on Two Hundred Good Soldiers than on all 
those now on the Ground . . . many of whom 
are children, twelve or fifteen years of age. 
Add to this that they have but about one 
month to stay and are badly armed, and the 
Officers are Enemies to Discipline." 

And yet on January 22d Wayne had been 
able to report that "I shall soon Complete the 
Abattis Round the Old Fort, and Octagons on 
Mt. Independence, and two new Blockhouses ; 
so that in a few days we hope to render this 
post tenable and leave it in much securer and 
better state than we found it. The manner in 
55 



Anthony Wayne 



which I have kept our Guards and Sentries, 
and the constant succession of Scouts which 
I have out — if followed by my successors — 
will effectually prevent a surprise." 

The men had flour and bad beef only to 
eat. They were thinly clothed and many 
were barefooted in the midst of the Adiron- 
dack winter. Unable to endure such hard- 
ships, many were dying. And the condition 
of the sick as they lay mingled with the dead 
and dying "beggared all description." Under 
such conditions these men had been detained 
beyond the time for which they had enlisted, 
and yet Wayne was able to complete the 
"Abattis Round the Old Fort and Octagons 
on Mt. Independence." 

During all this time it is plain from his 
letters that he was rapidly developing the 
abilities of a general. "I am well convinced 
that we shall never Establish our Liberties," 
he writes, "Until we learn to beat the English 
Rebels in the field — I hope the day is not far 
off." 

To Richard Peters, secretary of the Board 
of War, he wrote: "If you have any regard 
for the Liberty of your Country, or the Honor 
of America . . . give more attention to Ma- 
noeuvring, and less to working, and rest As- 
56 



In Command at Ticonderoga 

sured of Success." To anotlier: "Are our 
people so used to stand behind ivorks that they 
dare not face the foe in the field f That — that 
is the rock we have split on." "The Alarm- 
ing Situation of Affairs in Penns'a and Jer- 
sey," he writes, after hearing how Washing- 
ton had been driven from New York, "causes 
us most Ardently to Wish for Opportunity of 
meeting those Sons of War and Rapine face to 
face and man to man." 

On February 21, 1777, the day after he 
quelled the last of the mutinous spirit at Ti- 
conderoga by knocking down Jonah Halida 
and putting Captain Coe under arrest as an 
"Abettor of Mutiny," Colonel Wayne was pro- 
moted by Congress to the rank of brigadier- 
general. In September, 1776, Dr. Benjamin 
Rush, a member of the Continental Congress 
and a personal friend of Wayne, wrote him, 
saying : 

^^ Inter nos — an attention in you to Gen'l 
Gates may facilitate " your own promotion. 
Wayne wrote back a letter in which he indig- 
nantly refused to do anything of the kind. 
And it may as well be said here as elsewhere 
that while Anthony Wayne was active and 
earnest in his efforts to procure promotion 
for deserving officers under him, he never 
5 57 



Anthony Wayne 



used any influence whatever or made any ap- 
peal to any one to secure promotion for him- 
self. 

It is said by most of the writers that 
Wayne was promoted because of his gallant 
conduct in saving the force that had tried to 
take the British by surprise at Three Rivers. 
It may have been so, but Congress made no 
mention of the reasons for promoting him. 
That he had shown capacity and ability to 
serve in this rank after the retreat from Can- 
ada, as well as when first under fire, was very 
well known to Washington and other general 
officers, and to Congress; and it is fair to 
suppose that his work at Ticonderoga was of 
some influence in the matter. 

On January 2, 1777, Wayne, in a letter to 
General Schuyler, said, speaking of his Penn- 
sylvanians in connection with "the Alarming 
Situation of Affairs in Penns'a and Jersey " ; 

"These worthy fellows are second to none 
in Courage, (I have seen them proved), and I 
know they are not far behind any Regulars in 
Point of Discipline. Such troops, actuated 
by Principle and fired with just resentment, 
must be an acceptable and perhaps seasonable 
Re-inforcement to Gen'l Washington at this 
critical Juncture. If you should be of the 
58 



In Command at Ticonderoga 

same opinion, and cause ns . . . to march 
with all dispatch to join the Main Army . . . 
I would answer for it that they will not 
turn aside from Danger when the safety 
and Honor of their country require them to 
face it." 

If Wayne were a naval officer in modern 
days we should find him seeking service in a 
big cruiser instead of a battle-ship. He chafed 
when confined hekind the walls of Ticonderoga, 
and begged for permission to join the force 
under Washington, where there was a pros- 
pect of a fight. 

Washington, after retrieving nearly all of 
New Jersey from the British grasp, had en- 
camped for the winter at Morristown. On 
April 12, 1777, General Wayne was ordered 
to join him at that place. When there he was 
placed in command of eight regiments (1,700 
men), known as the Pennsylvania Line, and 
with these he was to see of hot work not a lit- 
tle and of distress more than enough to make 
the heart ache even to this day. 



59 



CHAPTER VII 

IN COMMAND OF THE PENNSYLVANIA LINE 

General Wayne arrived at Washington's 
camp, Morristown, N. J., near the middle of 
May, 1777. The force under Washington at 
this time amounted to 7,300 men, who were 
divided into five divisions of two brigades 
each. Though but a brigadier-general, the 
work and responsibility of a major-general 
were placed upon Wayne, for he was ordered 
to the command of one of these divisions — the 
Pennsylvania Line. 

From the beginning the most important 
part of Wayne's work was the training of his 
men, Washington's army had been com- 
posed, as all the American forces were, of 
men enlisted for one year only. The time of 
these men had expired in midwinter. No 
provision was made by Congress to replace 
the regiments who were to return until after 
they were mustered out, and for many weeks 
Washington had to rely on the militia who 
turned out for the occasion to hold the camp. 
It was a time of great peril, but the inaction 
60 



Command of Pennsylvania Line 

of the British forces saved the American 
army. Under these circumstances "Wayne, 
on reaching Morristown, necessarily found 
his division composed of men who, save for a 
few of the last year's troops, knew nothing of 
the manual of arms and nothing of forma- 
tions for the maneuvers needed in time of 
battle. Some of them were expert shots with 
the rifle. But when the kind of fighting that 
it was desirable to do was considered, the rifle 
was not the best weapon, and accordingly, 
after consultation with Washington, Wayne 
wrote (June 3, 1777), to the Board of the War 
saying that "His Excellency wishes to have 
our Rifles exchanged for Good Muskets and 
Bayonets. Experience has taught us that 
rifles are not fit for the field. A few only will 
be retained in each regiment, and those placed 
in the hands of Real marksmen." 

The objection to the rifles as then made 
was that they had no bayonets. In a battle 
on the open field the Americans had to depend 
entirely on gun-fire, and while the Americans 
were reloading their rifles the British came, 
charging with bayonets fixed. Having no 
bayonets, the Americans had to fly. 

On June 7th Wayne writes: "We are use- 
fully employed in manoeuvring. Our people 
61 



Anthony Wayne 



are daily gaming Health, Spirits and Disci- 
pline — the spade & pick axe are thrown aside 
for British Rebels to pick up." 

A perusal of Wayne's correspondence 
shows that he used capital letters for the pur- 
pose of placing emphasis on his words, and 
that he frequently called the enemy "Rebels." 

On May 28th Washington marched from 
Morristown to Middlebrook, N. J. At Mid- 
dlebrook Washington was a little farther 
from the Highlands, but he was nearer the 
enemy, and it was because of this advance 
that the army was in the good state of 
"Health, Spirits and Discipline " described by 
Wayne. Wayne's own "Spirits" certainly 
were high, and with good reason, for he says : 
"His Excellency has posted me in Front & 
honored me with the Charge of the most ma- 
terial pass leading to the Camp." 

Alexander Graydon, in his Memoirs, gives 
a description of Wayne as he appeared at this 
time (p. 277) : 

"General Wayne's quondam uniform as a 
Colonel of the Fourth Battalion was, I think, 
blue and white, in which he was accustomed 
to appear in exemplary neatness ; whereas he 
now dressed in a dingy red coat, a black rusty 
cravat and tarnished hat." 
62 



Command of Pennsylvania Line 

'Apparently Wayne dressed thus with de- 
liberate intent, and for a very good reason. 
In a letter dated July 3d, he speaks of one of 
his regiments, and says, "they have n^ver re- 
ceived any Uniform except hunting shirts, 
which are worn out, and altho' a body of fine 
men, yet from being in rags and badly armed 
they are viewed with contempt by the other 
troops, and begin to despise themselves." 
While it was impossible to replace the ragged 
hunting shirts with a decent uniform Wayne 
would not make the rags more conspicuous by 
appearing among his men dressed with ex- 
emplary neatness. 

When Wayne joined Washington's army 
he had not been at home for sixteen months. 
He wrote to his wife a letter on June 7th, tell- 
ing why he could not visit her. "I can't be 
spared from camj). I have the Confidence of 
the General, and the Hearts of the Soldiers 
who will support me in the Day of Action. 
. . . The Times Require great Sacrifices to 
be made. The Blessings of Liberty cannot be 
purchased at too high a price — the Blood and 
treasure of the Choicest and best Spirits of 
this Land is but a trifling consideration for 
the Rich Inheritance." 

But in no way, perhaps, can the patriot- 
63 



Anthony Wayne 



ism of the man be shown to better advantage 
than by comparing his expression of it with 
the sentiments of Dr. Benjamin Rush, the 
member of Congress already mentioned, in 
letters written at this time. Rush's mind was 
full of State politics. When the British civil 
power was overthrown, the people of Penn- 
sylvania as a mass took the civil power in 
their own hands and created a constitution 
that threw out of power those known before 
the war as "the governing class " (men of 
high social position), and these "did not hesi- 
tate to sneer at the work of the radical mob," 
as they called the new leaders. Some of these 
people of the former "governing class " were 
loyalists and some were active Tories, but a 
large number were sincere American patriots. 
Dr. Rush was unquestionably one of the pa- 
triots, but he sincerely believed that the new 
constitution would ruin the State. It must 
be remembered here that Wayne, too, was of 
the old "governing class," and that his per- 
sonal friends and associates at home were 
also of it. It was therefore natural that Dr. 
Rush should write to Wayne to bewail the po- 
litical situation in the State. 

"The most respectable whig characters in 
the state are with us," says Rush. "I need 
64 



Command of Pennsylvania Line 

not point out to you the danger and folly of 
the Constitution. It has substituted mob 
Government for one of the happiest govern- 
ments in the world. . . . Alas ! that our minds 
should be turned from opposing foreign 
tyranny. Some Change must be made or 
the Power of this important state will never 
be exerted for the Salvation of American Lib- 
erty. . . . Come and let us weep together. 
Let us unite our efforts once more, and per- 
haps we can recover Pennsylvania." 

Thus wrote the politician. In reply Wayne 
wrote : 

"I must for the present request you and 
every friend to his Country to exert your- 
selves in Calling forth the Strength of Penns'a 
and Completing our Battalions, which are 
yet very weak. Let us once be in condi- 
tion to Vanquish these British Rebels, and I 
answer for it that then your present Rulers 
will give way for better men which will pro- 
duce better Measures." 

He thought more of the " Country " than 
of "Penns'a," and he spelled country with a 
capital C. And then to stir the latent patri- 
otism of the doctor, Wayne adds : 

"We Offered General Grant Battle six 
times the other day. He as often formed 
G5 



Anthony Wayne 



but always on our approach his people broke 
and Ran after firing a few volleys which we 
never returned, being determined to let them 
feel the force of our fire at close quarters and 
give them the Bayonet under cover of the smoke. 
This Howe [slip of the pen — he meant 
Grant], who was to March through America 
at the head of 5000 men had his Coat much 
Dirtied, his horse's head taken off, and him- 
self badly Bruis'd for having the presump- 
tion at the head of 700 British Troops to face 
500 Penns'as." 

Graydon wrote in his Memoirs that "Wayne 
had a "vaunting style," but adds that he was 
"unquestionably as brave as any man in the 
army," and that he ^^ could fight as ivell as brag" 
— the truth of which shall appear. 

On July 5th St. Clair was driven from Ti- 
conderoga by Burgoyne's advancing host, and 
by the plan of the British ministry, Howe 
should have gone up the river to join him. 
But in the meantime General Charles Lee had 
been captured by the British, and turning 
traitor to the Americans, he gave Howe such 
attractive plans for capturing Philadelphia, 
"the rebel capital," that Howe adopted them 
instead of going to join Burgoyne. On July 
23, 1777, Howe and the British fleet left New 
66 



Command of Pennsylvania Line 

York. Tliey entered the Chesapeake Bay on 
August 15th, and on the 25th landed at Elk 
Ferry, near where the Delaware and Chesa- 
peake Canal now enters Chesapeake Bay. 
The battle at the Brandywine was at hand. 



67 



CHAPTER Vin 

ON THE BRANDYWINE 

Having learned definitely that Howe was 
to attack Philadelphia, Washington marched 
south to meet him, and sent Anthony Wayne 
to organize the Pennsylvania militia to assist 
the regular anny. Wayne did this work in 
Chester County, because that county lay in 
the direct route that the British must take. 
Wayne was in his home county, and yet on 
August 26th he was obliged to write this to his 
wife: 

"My Dear Girl — I am peremptorily for- 
bid by His Excellency to leave the Army — 
My case is hard. I am obliged to do the duty 
of three General Officers, but if it was not the 
case, as a Gen'l Officer I could not obtain leave 
of absence." 

Accordingly he begs her to come to him 
the next day^ and bring their two children (a 
son and a daughter) with her. One may no- 
tice here in passing that Wayne almost inva- 
riably addressed his wife as "My Dear Girl " 
68 



On the Brandywine 

or "My Dear Polly." Polly was a pet name, 
for her given name was Mary. 

Washington, in the meantime, passed 
down through Philadelphia (the men wearing 
"sprigs of green in their hats " to "give them 
some uniformity "), and he finally camped on 
the easterly side of Red Clay Creek, in Dela- 
ware. The camp was on the direct line from 
Elk Ferry to Philadelphia. Here Wayne 
once more took command of the Pennsyl- 
vania Line when the militia had been organ- 
ized. 

A letter written by Wayne while in this 
camp (September 2nd) shows very well his 
character as a fighting man. It was written to 
Washington and contains these paragraphs: 

"I took the liberty some days since to sug- 
gest the selecting 2,500 or 3,000 of our best 
Armed and Most Disciplined troops, who 
should hold themselves in Readiness on the 
approach of the Enemy to make a Regular 
and Vigorous Assault on their right or left 
flank — or such part of their army as should 
then be thought most expedient — and not wait 
the attack from them. 

" This Sir, I am well convinced would Sur- 
prise them much — from a persuasion that you 
dare not leave your works. It would totally 
69 



Anthony Wayne 



stop the Other part from advancing — and 
should the Attack be fortunate, which I have 
not the least doubt of, the Enemy would have 
no other Alternative than to Retreat." 

And to this he adds: 

"Should I be happy enough to meet your 
Excellency in Opinion, I wish to be of the 
number assigned to this business." 

Anthony Wayne was not of the porcupine 
class of fighters. 

However, Howe had 15,000 effective men 
where the Americans numbered but 11,000 at 
most, including militia, and Washington de- 
termined (September 8th) to retreat north to 
Brandywine Creek, where the ground was 
better suited for defensive work, and there 
make his final stand. 

By two o'clock next morning (9th), the 
Americans were on their way, and by night- 
fall they were encamped on the northerly side 
of Brandywine. 

Brandywine Creek empties into the Dela- 
ware River at Wilmington, Del. Its general 
course is nearly southeast, and from the 
mouth at Wilmington up to the forks of the 
west and east branches, the distance is not far 
from twenty-two miles. The American camp 
was made on the northerly side of this creek. 
70 



On the Brandywine 

It extended from Jones's Ford on the right or 
up-stream end of the line, down to Pyle's 
Ford on the left, a distance of perhaps two 
and a half miles. But the main road over 
which Howe was coming crossed the stream 
at Chadd's Ford, which was perhaps half a 
mile from Pyle's Ford, or the left end of the 
American line. Another ford, called Brin- 
ton's, was found between Chadd's Ford and 
the American right at Jones's Ford, and the 
Americans had to defend, therefore, four 
fords — Jones's, Brinton's, Chadd's, and 
Pyle's. 

On the American left, at Pyle's Ford, the 
stream was a "roaring torrent," and the 
banks extremely precipitous and well wooded. 
The ground below this was still more rugged. 
This ford was therefore to be defended eas- 
ily, and Washington placed there the militia 
under General John Armstrong. 

At Chadd's Ford, as said, the main road 
from the south crossed the creek, and it was 
the ford that could be most readily passed by 
the enemy. Here, in the post of honor, 
Wayne was stationed with his Pennsylvania 
Line, a Virginia regiment, and Proctor's artil- 
lery. 

Weedon's and Muhlenberg's brigades, 
71 



Anthony Wayne 



under Major-General Greene, were placed on 
the heights behind Wayne as a reserve, while 
the right wing, that was to cover Brinton's 
and Jones's fords up-stream, was under the 
command of Major-General Sullivan. Max- 
well's light infantry (it was but a small force) 
was left on the southerly side of the stream to 
observe and annoy the enemy's advance. 

While it is not necessary to describe the 
battle that followed in all its details, it must 
be remembered that Howe divided his army 
and sent half of it, under General Knyphau- 
sen, to Chadd's Ford. The remainder, under 
Lord Cornwallis, and Howe himself marched 
up the valley on the south side of the stream, 
crossed the forks, and came down upon the 
rear of the American right wing under Sul- 
livan. 

While waiting for Cornwallis to turn the 
American right, Knyphausen strove only to 
hold Washington's attention by false moves. 
But hearing from a scout that the British 
force was divided, Washington ordered his 
army to charge across the stream to force 
the fighting. 

The supreme moment of the battle had 
come. Led by Anthony Wayne, the head of 
the American column was already splashing 
72 



On the Brandywine 

the shallow waters of the ford, and victory 
was within their grasp, when word was re- 
ceived from Sullivan that the report of a Brit- 
ish column going above the forks was untrue, 
and in the delay which this message caused 
the opportunity for a decisive victory slipped 
away. 

Cornwallis, with his 7,000 men, drove the 
American right flank down toward the center. 
Washington sent Greene with the reserves to 
aid Sullivan, and then Knyphausen came 
down to Chadd's Ford, this time with full de- 
termination to cross. 

He had 7,000 men at least with which to 
attack the Americans, and it included Major 
Patrick Ferguson's corps of riflemen, with 
their breech-loaders. Knyphausen's force 
was superior in numbers to Wayne's, and 
they were all well-disciplined soldiers, while 
the greater part of Wayne's men were raw 
recruits and militia who had never been under 
fire. Nevertheless, Wayne held his ground — 
held the post of honor — from two o'clock un- 
til the sun went down (after six o'clock), and 
then he retreated only when he learned posi- 
tively that a division of Cornwallis's victorious 
force was coming to attack him in the rear. 
He retreated in order to avoid being sur- 
6 73 



Anthony Wayne 



rounded, and he did it in sucli good order that 
he was not interrupted. 

Says Colonel James Chambers, of the 
First Pennsylvania, in a letter describing the 
retreat : 

" The general [Wayne] sent orders for our 
artillery to retreat, and ordered me to cover 
it with a part of my regiment. It was done, 
but to my surprise the artillerymen had run 
and left the howitzer behind. The two [field] 
pieces went up the road protected by about 
sixty of my men, who had very warm work, 
but brought them safe. I then ordered an- 
other party to fly to the howitzer and bring it 
off. Captain Buchanan, Lieutenant Simp- 
son, and Lieutenant Douglass went immedi- 
ately to the gun, and the men following their 
example, I covered them with the few I had 
remaining. But before this could be done the 
main body of the foe came within thirty 
yards, and kept up the most terrible fire ever 
heard in America, though with very little loss 
on our side. I brought all the brigade artil- 
lery safely off, and I hope to see them again 
fire at the. scoundrels. We retreated to the 
next height in good order in the midst of a 
very heavy fire of cannon and small arms. 
Not thirty yards distant we formed to re- 
74 



On the Brandywine 

ceive them, but they did not choose to fol- 
low." 

As a matter of fact, these guns mentioned 
here were actually in the possession of the 
enemy when Colonel Chambers went after 
them, and Howe's official despatch mentions 
the capture. But he makes no mention of the 
gallant force that Wayne sent to retake them 
— with entire success. 

The Americans were driven from their po-' 
sition, but they were not routed. They passed 
the night at Chester — a retreat of twelve 
miles — but Washington testified that his 
army was "in good spirits and nowise dis- 
heartened by the recent affair, which it 
seempd to consider as a check rather than a 
defeat." 

The American loss in killed and wounded 
and prisoners was not far from 1,000. The 
British admitted a loss of 579, but by "rolls 
afterward captured at Germantown, it ap- 
peared that their loss exceeded that of the 
Americans " (Fiske). 



75 



CHAPTER IX 

ATTACKED IN THE NIGHT 

On the next morning (September 12, 
1777), after the battle of the Brandywine, 
Washington retreated from Chester up to 
Philadelphia, and went thence to German- 
town, where he rested his men during the 
13th. On the 14th, finding his men quite will- 
ing to meet the British once more, he re- 
crossed to the westerly side of the Schuylkill 
at Conshohocken, and taking the Lancaster 
road, went in search of Howe. The British, 
meantime, had marched to the north and west 
to reach some of the fords of the Schuylkill, 
where they might hope to cross unmolested. 
In spite of his superior force, Howe had not 
been anxious to overtake Washington's re- 
treating army, or even to meet it in another 
battle where fords were to be fought for. It 
was by such action that General Howe ex- 
pressed his opinion of the American army. 
And by hunting the British Washington ex- 
pressed his opinion. 

On the 16th the two armies met near 
76 



Attacked in the Night 

the Warren tavern, which was 22 miles 
from Philadelphia, on the Lancaster road. 
To Wayne was given the honor of leading in 
the attack, and his skirmishers were already 
firing on the enemy's advanced line under 
Lord Cornwallis, when a rain-storm that was 
so furious as to stop the combat came on. For 
twenty-four hours the furious rainfall con- 
tinued — a genuine cyclone was working up 
the coast. 

How the battle would have terminated 
had no rain fallen, it is idle to conjecture, but 
every patriot who can share in Wayne's en- 
thusiasm will regret the storm. Moreover, 
the rain destroyed the entire supply of ammu- 
nition in the American camp, and Washington 
was obliged to retreat. He reached Warwick, 
on French Creek (west of Phenixville), dur- 
ing the 17th, and from thence marched north 
to Parker's Ford ( Lawrence ville, Pa.), at the 
mouth of Pigeon Creek, where he arrived on 
September 19th. 

Meantime, while at Warwick, he detached 
Wayne, with from 1,200 to 1,500 men and 4 
field-pieces, to fall in the rear of the British 
army and try to cut off their baggage-train 
or do whatever would most annoy them, so 
that they could not reach the Schuylkill until 
77 



Anthony Wayne 



after Washington should have time to cross, 
and with a renewed supply of ammunition 
meet them at the fords. 

Accordingly, on September 18tli, Wayne 
took post to the south of and between the War- 
ren and the Paoli taverns. The spot is within 
half a mile of Malvern station on the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad now, and it is conspicu- 
ously marked by a monument. The British 
camp was four miles away to the northeast, 
and Wayne was expecting General William 
Smallwood, who had 1,850 militia at the 
White Horse tavern, on the Lancaster road, 
a few miles west of the Warren tavern, to join 
him. Wayne fully comprehended that he was 
on a dangerous mission, but he had such faith 
in his men that he even contemplated an as- 
sault on the enemy single-handed, when a 
favoring moment should come. 

At seven o'clock on the morning of Sep- 
tember 19th he wrote to Washington to say : 

"On the enemy's beating the reveille, I 
ordered the troops under arms, and began our 
march for their left flank, but when we ar- 
rived witliin a half a mile of their encamp- 
ment found they had not stirred, but lay too 
compact to admit of attack with prudence. 
Indeed their supineness answers every pur- 
78 



Attacked in the Night 

pose of giving you time to get up. If tliey at- 
tempt to move I shall attack them at all 
events. . . . There never was nor never will 
be a finer opportunity of giving the enemy a 
fatal blow than the present. For God's sake 
push on as soon as possible." 

At ten o'clock he wrote again to say that 
the "enemy are very quiet, washing and cook- 
ing," and that he looked for them to move to- 
ward evening. Maxwell was on their east 
flank and Wayne on their west, and with this 
in mind he said to Washington, "we only want 
you in their rear to complete Mr. Howe's bus- 
iness." By rear he meant on the north side. 
He added that he believed the enemy knew 
nothing of his situation, but he was mistaken. 
A Tory had given General Howe full details 
of the number of Wayne's force, and an ac- 
curate description of the camp. And on the 
night of the 20th a British force twice as large 
as W^ayne's was sent to take him by surprise. 

In the meantime Wayne had heard that 
Howe was to march for the Schuylkill at two 
o'clock in the morning of the 21st. An offi- 
cer was immediately sent to bring up Small- 
wood's militia, and every preparation was 
made to dash among the British during the 
confusion of breaking camp. The sick of 
79 



Anthony Wayne 



Wayne's command appear to have lodged in 
rude huts (wigwams one writer calls them), 
and it is certain that some of the well men 
sneaked into these; but the force as a whole 
lay down with their arms in hand and in such 
a position that at the call they would find 
themselves in line as soon as they arose to 
their feet. 

Between nine and ten o'clock that night 
one of Wayne's neighbors (Wayne's house 
was less than two miles away), brought third- 
hand information that a British detachment 
was coming to attack the American camp. 
Wayne at once sent out extra pickets, inclu- 
ding a number of mounted men. He then al- 
lowed his men to continue sleeping, for he 
was looking for Smallwood to arrive at any 
minute, when he meant to assume the offen- 
sive ; and he had confidence in the vigilance of 
his pickets. 

Unfortunately, however, Smallwood failed 
to arrive, while the British, under General 
Grey, came on, silently bayoneting such pick- 
ets as they met, until so near the camp that 
when the alarm was given the sleeping Amer- 
icans were aroused by the cry: 

"Up, men! the British are upon you." 

"Dash on, light infantry!" shouted Gen- 
80 



Attacked in the Night 

eral Grey to his men, and with bayonets ready 
they charged the American camp, assisted by 
a regiment of light dragoons who had sword 
in hand. 

Though many of his men were asleep, 
Wayne himself was awake and alert. As the 
alarm was heard Wayne mounted his horse, 
and the sleeping men rose up in line. Then 
ordering Colonel Richard Humpton (second 
in command) to wheel the men by subplatoons 
into column and march away toward the 
northwest (on the route by which Smallwood 
was coming), Wayne spurred over to the 
right of his line, where, with the light infantry 
and the First Pennsylvania Regiment, he 
strove to cover the retreat. 

As Wayne rode away, Humpton wheeled 
his men into column and sent oif the artillery, 
but it was not until Wayne had sent him or- 
ders for the third time to march off that he 
did so. And then, when he did march away, 
he led the column between the camp-fires and 
the coming British, and thus showed the 
enemy where to strike. 

As the British became visible (and the dis- 
tance was "not more than Ten Yards "), 
Wayne gave them a volley, and then fell back 
"a Little Distance," when he formed a front 
81 



Anthony Wayne 



to oppose them, but "they did not think pru- 
dent to push matters further." 

They had found a considerable number of 
sick men in the camp, and there were strag- 
glers who had failed to get into line promptly 
when the alarm came. These sick and strag- 
gling men were mercilessly bayoneted by the 
British. The British authorities on the bat- 
tle make no effort to conceal the fact that 
Grey's force was determined to massacre the 
Americans. 

" The light infantry bayonetted every man 
they came up with," says the diary of Lieu- 
tenant Hunter, of the Fifty-second British 
Regiment. " The light infantry being ordered 
to form the front, rushed along the line, put- 
ting to the bayonet all they came up with, and, 
overtaking the main herd of fugitives, stabbed 
great numbers," says Gaines' Mercury. 

"What a running about barefoot, and half 
clothed, and in the light of their own fires! 
... I stuck them myself like so many pigs, 
one after another, until the blood ran out of 
the touch-hole of my musket," said a Hessian 
sergeant, in boasting of his work that night. 
As a matter of fact, however, the British ac- 
counts all exaggerate the extent of the British 
cruelty. Grey certainly gave orders to give no 
82 



Attacked in the Night 

quarter, but instead of butchering from 200 to 
460, as the various British accounts assert, 
the exact number killed was 63. Seventy pris- 
oners were taken alive, and of these 40, who 
were badly wounded, were left at various 
houses along the road when Grey returned to 
the. main army. The British lost 3 killed and 
6 wounded. This tight is called the massacre 
of Paoli, because Wayne was camped near the 
Paoli tavern. 

It is worth noting that while Grey was 
charging the American camp a detachment of 
the British force surrounded Wayne's home. 
They supposed that they would find Wayne 
at home, as a matter of course. They "be- 
haved with the utmost politeness to the 
women," and "they did not disturb the least 
article." Such unusual conduct on the part 
of British raiders in that war is memo- 
rable. 

General Smallwood's militia were met a 
mile away toward the White Horse tavern, 
but the militiamen were so greatly alarmed 
by the sight of Wayne's retreating command 
that they could not be coaxed or driven into a 
pursuit of Grey's regulars. As to the Penn- 
sylvanians, Wayne wrote at noon of the 21st : 

"It will not be in our power to render you 
83 



Anthony Wayne 



such service as I could wish, but all that can, 
you may Depend on being done." 

It is agreed by military critics that 
Wayne's orders that night were right for the 
occasion, and that his coolness and prompt 
decision as to what should be done saved his 
command from annihilation. But it was 
charged in Washington's army that Wayne 
had been negligent and thus had allowed his 
command to be surprised. Curiously enough, 
Colonel Humpton was active in supporting 
this charge. Wayne instantly demanded a 
court-martial. The court was granted. After 
a patient hearing of the prosecution, in which 
Colonel Humpton took the lead, the evidence 
showed that the great part of the American 
loss was due to Humpton's failure to obey 
Wayne's first order, and the court unani- 
mously decided that Wayne was "not guilty 
of the charge exhibited against him, but that 
he, on the night of the 20th of September last, 
did every duty that could be expected from 
an active, brave and vigilant officer, under 
the orders which he then had." 



84 



CHAPTER X 

A BATTLE IN A FOG 

As Wayne had learned they would do, the 
British broke camp on the morning of Sep- 
tember 21, 1777, and made a march up the 
southerly side of the Schuylkill, on the road 
leading to Reading, as if bound for that city, 
where the Americans had large quantities of 
supplies. Washington, being on the north- 
erly side of the river, kept pace with them, 
but on the night of the 22d Howe left his 
camp-fire burning and marched down the 
river to Flatland Ford (just below Valley 
Forge), and there crossed to the northerly 
side of the river. 

By this strategic move — without risking a 
battle — Howe had placed himself between 
Washington and Philadelphia, and the road 
to the American capital city was open before 
him. But one can not help noting here that a 
British general has but rarely been known to 
dodge an enemy of inferior force in such fash- 
ion as this. 

85 



Anthony Wayne 



From the ford Howe marched to German- 
town, a long straggling village, then a few 
miles nortli of Philadelphia, and from that 
I)oint sent Cornwallis to take possession of 
Philadelphia, to capture the forts below the 
city, and to remove the obstructions on which 
the Americans had relied to stop the advance 
of the British fleet. It was necessary for the 
British to open free communication with their 
fleet if they were to hold Philadelphia, for if 
they did not do so, they would simply starve 
in the city they had come to take. 

In detaching men for this purpose, how- 
ever, Howe weakened the army at German- 
town, and Washington, who had been joined 
by Wayne and Smallwood, called his generals 
together (September 28th), and asked them if 
it would not be good policy to attack 4;he Brit- 
ish at Germantown. There were fourteen of 
these generals, Lafayette being among the 
number. Ten of the fourteen, having no con- 
fidence in the untrained men of the American 
forces, urged Washington to wait for reen- 
forcements from the north, but Wayne, Small- 
wood, Scott, and Porter had faith in their 
men, and spoke for an immediate attack. 

"Our army is full of health and spirits," 
wrote Wayne in a letter to his wife at this 
86 



A Battle in a Fog 

time (September 30th), "and far stronger 
than it was at the Battle of Brandywine." 

Washington was similarly hopeful, and 
between September 29th and October 3d he 
moved his anny from its camp between the 
Perkiomen and Shippack Creeks down to 
within striking distance of the enemy, in or- 
der to attack at daylight the morning of Oc- 
tober 4th. 

Germantown in those days consisted of a 
single street (running somewhere near north 
and south), that was lined on each side for a 
distance of two miles by stone houses stand- 
ing close to the street, and perhaps a hundred 
yards apart. Between the houses were stout 
fences, some of stone and some of wood, that 
extended back for several hundred yards, en- 
closing gardens and fields. 

A little south of the middle of this long 
single-street village was a road that crossed 
the main street at right angles. On the east 
side of the main street this cross-road was 
called Church Lane; on the west it was 
called Old School Lane. At the corners stood 
the market and a German Reformed church. 
And just south of this cross-road was camped 
the British army. The right wing lay east of 
the Germantown road, and was under General 
87 



Anthony Wayne 



Grant (lie who had said he could march 
through America with 5,000 men). The left 
wing lay to the west, and was commanded by 
Knyphausen, while on the extreme left, and 
near the Schuylkill River, was a detachment 
of light troops under General Grey. 

The market-house at the corners was just 
five miles north of Philadelphia. A mile 
above (north of) the market-house was an- 
other cross-road leading to Abington, now 
Washington. This cross-road marked the 
north limit of Germantown. In the northeast 
corner of this cross stood a large mansion, 
the property of Benjamin Chew, formerly a 
chief justice of the colony. In a field near 
this house was camped a British regiment 
under Colonel Musgrave. 

The rows of houses lined the main street 
still farther north, but that part of the settle- 
ment was known as Beggarstown and Beck- 
ers Town. A mile north of Chew's house was 
a hill known as Mount Airy, and here was a 
battalion of light infantry that had formed 
a part of the command under General Grey 
when he stormed Wayne's camp, near the 
Paoli tavern. 

In planning an attack on the British, 
Washington divided his forces into four col- 
88 



A Battle in a Fog 

umns. General Armstrong, with his Penn- 
sylvania militia, was sent over to a road near 
the Schuylkill to pass around and attack 
the extreme left (west) flank of the British 
line. General Greene, with three brigades, 
was sent over to the east as far as the Lime 
Kiln road, a road that ran southerly to the 
British right wing, which Greene was to 
attack. 

The main or center column was composed 
of the divisions under Sullivan and Wayne, 
with Conway's brigade in advance, and Max- 
well's and Nash's in the rear, the whole be- 
ing under the command of Sullivan. 

The Americans left their camp on the 
evening of October 3, 1777, and after a weari- 
some march over a rough road, reached at 
daylight Chestnut Hill, a mile north of Mount 
Airy. A detachment was then sent forward 
(it was a dark, foggy morning) to bayonet 
the sentries posted by the Ught infantry at 
Mount Airy, and this was done, but not 
swiftly enough to prevent an alarm. 

Two 6-pounders were fired immediately 
after the first outcry, "and so much had we all 
Wayne's affair in our remembrance, that the 
battalion were out and under arms in a min- 
ute," as one of them wrote. 
7 89 



Anthony Wayne 



They had need to make haste, for Sullivan 
and Wayne were on the heels of the advance 
detachment, and no sooner were the two 
forces in sight of each other than the Amer- 
icans raised the cry, "Have at the blood- 
hounds! Eevenge Wayne's affair! " 

The light infantry were overwhelmed, and 
they fled, with W^ayne's men chasing the 
larger part of them from fence to fence down 
the east side of the main road, while Sullivan 
followed those that fled down the west side of 
the road. In due time the regiment under 
Colonel Musgrave was reached. It had come 
marching up to support the light infantry, but 
it was quickly overwhelmed, and in part sur- 
rounded, when to save their lives, or sell 
them dear, six companies took refuge in 
Chew's house. 

Sullivan and Wayne then swept on in pur- 
suit of the retreating enemy. The Pennsyl- 
vanians were especially eager. 

"They pushed on with the bayonet, and 
took ample vengeance for that Night's Work," 
wrote Wayne. "The Rage and Fury of the 
men was not to be Eestrained." Even when 
Howe came up and shouted to his men, "For 
shame, light infantry! I never saw you re- 
treat before," he could not stop them, and was 
90 



A Battle in a Fog 

himself obliged to ride hastily back to his 
main line. 

But as the men of the American reserve, 
under Maxwell and Nash, came up, the Brit- 
ish in Chew's house fired on them, and Gen- 
eral Henry Knox (he who was afterward Sec- 
retary of War) thought it necessary to stop 
a whole brigade in order to carry the stone 
house in which the six companies of British 
soldiers had taken refuge. To leave that 
house full of the enemy might endanger the 
whole American army of 11,000 men, he 
thought, and his rank enabled him to gather 
a force about the house, and spend a half 
hour of the most valuable time of the day in 
a vain effort to carry it. Wayne, in disgust, 
wrote of Knox's effort as "a Wind Mill (i. e., 
Don Quixote) attack." Knox finally left a 
regiment to guard the house, as should have 
been done in the first place, and marched on ; 
but he was then too late. 

For in the meantime Sullivan and Wayne 
had driven the light infantry home to the 
main British line, and had made a successful 
attack on the British center. Washington 
himself here took the lead and dashed in 
among the enemy. As the British gave way 
before the impetuous Americans at the center, 
91 



Anthony Wayne 



Greene charged in on the British right, and 
forced it back. "Tumult, disorder and even 
despair " appeared in the British line. Howe 
admitted a defeat, appointed Chester as a ren- 
dezvous for his broken forces, and 2,000 of 
Knyphausen's Hessians crossed the Schuyl- 
kill on their way thither. 

"We had full possession of the enemy's 
camp, which was on fire in several places," 
wrote Colonel Lacy, and yet when victory was 
within their grasp the Americans suddenly 
began to retreat. 

The origin of the trouble was in the divi- 
sions of the Americans into four separate col- 
umns for an assault in the fog. It was well 
to get rid of the militia, perhaps, by sending 
them off to turn the flanks of the enemy, if 
they coufd do so. For the main attack, how- 
ever. Napoleon would have kept Greene's men 
in the main column, and then would have sent 
his whole mass in column down to and 
through the British line. Then he would have 
taken the two parts, one at a time, and would 
have annihilated them. The single-column 
attack was all the more desirable because so 
many of the Americans were raw recruits. 
Nevertheless, Washington's plan was excel- 
lent for that age (as were all of his disposi- 
92 



A Battle in a Fog 

tions of troops), and it would have succeeded 
but for the fact that the stupid Knox thought 
it necessary to stop and batter a stone dwell- 
ing in the midst of an attack where success 
depended wholly on an uninterrupted swoop 
into the enemy's line. By his attack on the 
Chew house so much noise was made that a 
part of Greene's men (a brigade under Ste- 
phen) were diverted from the main attack, 
and while marching through the fog in search 
of the enemy's flank fell upon the flank of 
.Wayne's division. 

Wayne's men had been chasing the British 
for more than two miles and were weary. 
Stephen's men had had no fighting and were 
eager. Their fire took Wayne's men in the 
rear as well as the flank, and being wholly 
unexpected, it threw the Pennsylvanians into 
disorder. Though Wayne stormed to and 
fro to stop them, they fled away until another 
brigade behind them was thrown into con- 
fusion, and then the main line, under Wash- 
ington and Sullivan, was forced to fall 
back. 

When the Americans turned, the British, 

being veterans and well disciplined, quickly 

rallied. Grey, with his chasseurs, then came 

from the extreme left to support the British 

93 



Anthony Wayne 



right, and was able to charge in on the falter- 
ing Americans and keep them going. 

Cornwallis, who had heard the cannon 
while yet in bed at Philadelphia, came up 
with reenforcements on the run, and joined 
in the pursuit, and they followed the Amer- 
icans to White Marsh Church, several miles 
north of Germantown. 

Here, however, the pursuit came to an end. 
.Wayne had at last overcome the panic of his 
men, and with the brigade that had been un- 
der General Stephen added, a stand was 
made "m order to collect stragglers from the 
army," as Wayne reported to Washington. 
Wayne was repeating here the work he did 
after the failure at Three Rivers. 

As the stragglers came in, the enemy ap- 
peared with a troop of light horsemen and 
1,500 infantry. The main body of the Amer- 
icans was ordered off, but Wayne remained 
behind to cover the retreat. Posting some 
cannon on a low hill, he supported them with 
"some infantry and Colonel Bland's dra- 
goons " until the enemy "were induced to re- 
tire back over the ridge and give up further 
pursuit." 

The Americans carried away all their own 
cannon and a number taken from the British, 
94 



A Battle in a Fog 

and they retreated in good order. The Amer- 
ican loss in killed and wounded was 673 ; the 
British, by their own accounts, 535, but Gor- 
don's History of the American Revolution 
says, "They (the Loyal Army) suffered prob- 
ably more than they allowed." 
■ Wayne was among those slightly wounded. 

The chagrin of the American officers over 
the retreat was great. Washington wrote to 
Congress saying: "Our troops retreated at 
the instant when victory was declaring herself 
in our favor. The tumult, disorder, and even 
despair, which it seems had taken place in the 
British army, were scarcely to be paralleled ; 
and it is said that so strongly did the ideas 
of retreat prevail, that Chester was fixed on 
for their rendezvous." 

Says Captain Heth, of Virginia: "What 
makes this inglorious flight more grating to 
us is that we know the enemy had orders to 
retreat, and rendezvous at Chester, and that 
upwards of two thousand Hessians had actu- 
ally crossed the Schuylkill for that purpose ; 
that the Tories were in the utmost distress 
and moving out of the city; that our friends 
confined in the new jail made it ring with 
shouts of joy; that we passed in pursuing 
them upwards of twenty pieces of cannon, 

95 



Anthony Wayne 



their tents standing filled with their choicest 
baggage ; in fine every thing was as we could 
wish when the flight took place." 

But here again, as usual, we get a glimpse 
of Wayne's mind that is cheering. For while 
others were complaining, he writes to "Dear 
Polly " — his wife — and says, "upon the whole 
it was a glorious day. Our men are in high 
spirits, and I am confident that we shall give 
them a total defeat in the next action." 



96 



CHAPTER XI 

THE CONDITIONS AFTER THE BATTLE OF 
GERMANTOWN 

Having by good luck held his own at 
Germantown, the British general turned his 
attention to the reduction of the American 
defenses below Philadelphia in order to open 
communication with the British fleet. The 
Americans had a fleet of small armed vessels 
under Commodore Hazlewood, and they yet 
occupied two forts, Fort Mercer at Bed Bank, 
opposite the mouth of the Schuylkill — that is, 
on the east bank of the Delaware — and Fort 
Mifflin on Mud Island, just below the mouth 
of the Schuylkill and on the west side of the 
Delaware. The guns of these forts covered 
several lines of submarine obstructions made 
of heavy timbers that were likely to pierce 
and sure to stop any ship sailed against them. 
An attempt was made by the British to carry 
Mercer by assault (October 22d), but it failed, 
and then Howe constructed batteries on Prov- 
ince Island within 500 yards of Fort Mifflin. 
97 



Anthony Wayne 



!A.ided by this fort the British, after a 
siege of six weeks, took Fort Mifflin (Novem- 
ber 10th), and thus opened the river. In con- 
nection with the surrender of Fort Mifflin 
Wayne wrote (November 18, 1777) to Rich- 
ard Peters, Secretary of War : 

"Six weeks' investiture and no attempt to 
raise the siege of that fort, will scarcely be 
credited at an other day. 

"Whenever that subject was mentioned 
new difficulties were always raised sufficient 
to prevent any measures being taken for that 
purpose, until his Excellency, seeing the Ab- 
solute necessity of making every possible ef- 
fort to effect so desirable an object, ordered 
some (xent'n in whom he could confide to re- 
connoitre the ground in the vicinity of Prov- 
ince Island. . . . On their return a Council 
was held. The practicability as well as the 
immediate necessity of raising the Siege was 
urged in the most clear and pointed terms. 
The measure was again overruled [by vote], 
but His Excellency had determined to act the 
General. The army was to have passed the 
Schulkill and taken post near the middle 
ferry (Market street), whilst my Division 
with Morgan's corps were to proceed to Prov- 
ince Island, and there storm the enemy's 
98 



After the Battle of Germantown 

lines, spike their cannon and Kuin their 
works. 

"There was some Difficulty as well as 
Danger in the Attempt, but the success de- 
pended more on the fortitude of the Troops 
than upon Numbers. His excellency had 
charged me with the Conduct and execution 
of this business. I knew my troops & glad- 
ly Embraced the command, but the Evacua- 
tion of that important fortress the evening 
preceding the day on which the storm was 
to have taken place frustrated an expe- 
dition which afforded the most flattering 
prospect." 

Wayne then expresses the opinion that 
"the surest way to do nothing" is to call a 
council, and concludes the paragraph by the 
assertion that "there has been more than one 
instance of the truth of this observation dur- 
ing this campaign." 

Three letters in like vein were written 
by Wayne to General Washington. In the 
one dated November 25th, he says: "I am 
solemnly and clearly of Opinion; that the 
Credit of the army under your Command, the 
Safety of the Country, the Honor of the 
American Arms, the Approach of winter that 
must in a few days force you from the field. 
99 



Anthony Wayne 



and above all the depreciation of the Currency 
of these States, point out the Immediate 
Necessity of giving the Enemy Battle." 

A plan for an attack on Philadelphia is 
then given, and the letter closes with this re- 
markable sentence: 

"7;f is not in our power to Command Success, 
hut it is in our power to produce a Conviction to 
the world that tee deserve it." 

Wayne used that expression very often in 
his letters during the Revolution, but it failed 
to effect his purpose in this case. With all 
but two or three of his other ofl&cers opposed 
to an attack on the entrenched British, Wash- 
ington felt obliged to go into camp for the 
winter, and Valley Forge was chosen as the 
site for the camp. 



100 



CHAPTER XII 

THE VALLEY FORGE WINTER 

From October 4, 1777, to December 1st, 
Washington's army lay encamped at White 
Marsh Church. Washington, in his modesty, 
felt obliged to listen to the cautions of the 
timid majority of his advisers rather than to 
the urgent appeal of the courageous, of whom 
Wayne was chief, and so no attack was made 
on Howe. He held his ground when, on one 
occasion, the British marched up to give bat- 
tle, but on seeing the "countenance " of the 
Americans the knighted Howe hunted winter 
quarters, as the knighted Carleton had done 
a year before in the north. 

But when the storms of winter came, the 
countenance of the American force blanched, 
and on December 11th they marched away un- 
molested to settle down for the winter in Val- 
ley Forge. 

A memorable march was that. The 
ground was snow-covered, save on the faces 
of ridges where the wind had blown it away, 
101 



Anthony Wayne 



and hundreds of the soldiers were barefooted ; 
but the barefooted found the snow less pain- 
ful than the wind-swept ground. For the 
ground was frozen into knobs, and the knobs 
were full of sharp rock and bits of iron ore 
that cut and tore the feet of the marching 
host till their trail was marked with blood. 
And yet, though their sufferings were just 
begun, after they reached their destination 
(on the 17th) the whole army united in a de- 
vout service of thanksgiving that had been 
appointed by Congress. 

Valley Forge is "a deep, short hollow 
scooped out from a low, rugged mountain " 
that stands on the west side of the Schuylkill, 
six or seven miles above Morristown, and it 
was in 1777, 20 miles from Philadelphia 
by the highway. This hollow opened upon 
the great valley of the Schuylkill toward 
Phenixville. A small creek ran through the 
hollow. On this creek old Isaac Potts, a 
Quaker, had established a forge for supplying 
the region with iron, and thus had given a 
name to the little hollow. 

The army, when it reached the hollow, 

numbered 11,098 men, but of these 2,898 were 

unfit for duty because they were naked or 

barefooted, and had marched 19 miles bare- 

102 



The Valley Forge Winter 

footed over the rock-pointed knobs of the 
•wind-swept ridges. Those who could work 
at once started for the forest trees that stood 
in abundance about the valley, and cutting 
them down they built log cabins, with stick- 
and-mud chimneys, and roofs made of pun- 
cheons, or boards that were split instead of 
sawed from logs. The cracks between the 
logs — the chinks — were stuffed with moss, 
bark, or mud. There were no floors to the 
huts, and the wind came driving through 
many a crevice in spite of the care of the 
builders. There were no beds, and not one 
blanket, on the average, to the hut. The men 
in each hut had to lie on the ground, sick or 
well, and with their bare feet to the fire shiver 
the night away, while in the coldest weather 
they sat up in a huddle around the fire all 
night long because unable to endure the cold 
when stretched out. 

The naked, when their turn came to mount 
guard, were obliged to borrow the clothing of 
comrades before they went out. And to add 
to the misery of all, food was so scarce that 
they were often without meat for days at a 
stretch, and sometimes without flour, or any 
substitute for it. 

And yet at this time the Legislature of 
103 



Anthony Wayne 



Pennsylvania — the patriots who were careful 
to stay at home to serve their country — ad- 
dressed a formal remonstrance to Congress 
against allowing the army to go into winter 
quarters. 

The energy and vitality which Anthony 
Wayne might have used in fighting the enemy 
— energy and vitality that would have thrived 
on battle — were drawn to the lowest ebb by 
his daily views of the distress about him and 
his unceasing and all but fruitless efforts to 
provide for his men. For his efforts were 
steadily thwarted by the politicians to whom 
he was obliged to apply to obtain supplies. 

In a letter to Richard Peters, Secretary of 
War, dated January 26, 1778, he tells some- 
thing of the destitution of his men, and begs 
that the board "will fall upon some other 
mode than orders on the Clothier General " 
for supplying the needed clothing, because, as 
he explains, "every let and hindrance in the 
power of the Clothier General seems to be 
thrown in the way." He appealed to Com- 
missary James Long, and that official replied 
(February 7th) : "You cannot conceive how 
Uneasy I am from ivant of instructions from 
the Council concerning the sending necessa- 
ries to Camp for the troops." He says shoes 
104 



The Valley Forge Winter 

might be forwarded, but the council "has not 
fixed the issueing time." "Some shirts & 
stockings & good Breeches are in my posses- 
sion, on which account I only await your Or- 
ders and their Leave." 

In another letter to Peters Wayne de- 
clares : "I am not fond of danger, but I would 
most cheerfully agree to enter into action, 
once every week in place of visiting each hut 
of my encampment (which is my constant 
practice), and where objects strike my eye 
whose wretched condition beggars all descrip- 
tion. . . . For God's sake give us, if you can't 
give us anything else, give us linen that we 
may be Enabled to preserve the poor Worthy 
fellows from the Vermin that are now devour- 
ing them. . . . Some hundreds ' we have bur- 
ied ' who have died of a disorder produced 
by a want of Clothing." 

"One loses patience as he reads Wayne's 
complaints of the neglect of the commonest 
wants of the soldier, and the ridiculous ex- 
cuses that were made for not supplying 
them," as Stille says. "It is humiliating to 
discover, for instance, that such were the des- 
titution and nakedness of the troops at Valley 
Forge that Wayne himself purchased the 
cloth for the articles his men most needed, 
8 105 



Anthony Wayne 



hoping, (as it turned out in vain), to have the 
garments made up in camp; that the State 
Clothier General refused to issue the cloth 
which he had in store, through some absurd 
rule in his opinion justifying his actions. 
Thus when the proper officer called for shoes 
repeatedly they were not issued because no 
order of Council had been voted. On the 
12th of March Wayne sends Colonel Bayard 
to Lancaster to procure arms and clothing, 
but the result is broken promises only. In 
despair he turns to the President of the Coun- 
cil, or Governor, and is told in reply, that he 
should send out more recruiting officers, and 
that as to the non-receipt of the clothing, the 
delay is caused by a want of buttons." 

In fact this President (Thomas Wharton) 
wrote on April 2d to say to Wayne (who 
had previously complained that some of the 
officers were also without proper clothing) : 
"If money is an inducement to enlist in our 
regiments this State has given generously, 
and the officers, I think, have sufficient en- 
couragement to do their duty." 

But heartrending as most of the details of 

life at Valley Forge are, the reader can yet 

see that hope for American freedom had not 

yet fled — indeed, hope never icas stronger. 

106 



The Valley Forge Winter 

When a foreign oflScer visited the camp and 
"saw a gaunt figure flitting from one hut to 
another, its nakedness covered with only a 
dirty blanket," he "despaired of the inde- 
pendence of America." 

But the incident that gave despair to the 
foreigner gave hope to men like Anthony 
Wayne. That figure remained in camp, wait- 
ing for the clothing that would enable him to 
go out and fight for the gridiron flag, instead 
of deserting when out on picket duty in bor- 
rowed clothing. There is no picture of Amer- 
ican patriotism so graphic as that of the naked 
soldiers crouching hy their fires during the win- 
ters of the Revolution. 

Toward the end of the winter Baron Steu- 
ben came to Valley Forge. Steuben had been 
trained under Frederick the Great. He was 
an earnest, capable, hot-tempered man, who 
knew the manual of arms and how to ma- 
neuver troops on the field better than any 
other man in America. He came to Valley 
Forge to show the soldiers how to do their 
work in the best way, and he trained ofificers 
as well as men. Wayne's men had used the 
bayonet, and so had others — as a farmer uses 
a pitchfork. Steuben, with musket in hand, 
taught the men how to thrust and parry in the 
107 



Anthony Wayne 



scientific manner of the Prussian veterans 
under Frederick the Great. He taught them 
how to march in column, and deploy in line 
quickly, and what was of still greater impor- 
tance, how to act together. He saw the ad- 
vantages of the backwoods American plan of 
scattering behind trees, on proper occasions, 
and developed from it the modern skirmish 
line. 

Wayne was a constant spectator of Steu- 
ben's work, and how he profited by it shall 
appear. The bayonet exercises particularly 
interested him. In a letter to Secretary of 
War Peters (February 8, 1777), we find 
this: 

"I find the enclosed deficiency in Bayonets 
which I wish an order for from the Board of 
War on Mr. William Henry, at Lancaster, 
with directions to make them eighteen inches 
long in the blade. ... I would also wish to 
exchange a number of rifles for muskets and 
bayonets. I don't like rifles. I would almost 
as soon face an enemy with a good musket 
and bayonet without ammunition, as with am- 
munition without a bayonet, for although 
there are riot many instances of bloody bayo- 
nets, yet I am confident that one bayonet 
keeps off another, and for want of which the 
108 



The Valley Forge Winter 

Chief of the Defeats we have met with ought 
in a great measure to be attributed. The 
Enemy, knowing the defenceless state of our 
Riflemen, rush on. They [the riflemen] fly, 
mix with or pass thro' the other troops, and 
communicate fears that is ever incident to a 
retiring corps. This would not be the case 
if the riflemen had bayonets. But it would 
be still better if good muskets and bayonets 
were put into the hands of good marksmen, 
and rifles entirely laid aside. For my part 
I never wish to see one [a rifle], at least with- 
out a bayonet. I don't give this as a mere 
matter of opinion or speculation, but as a 
matter of fact to the truth of which I have 
more than once been an unhappy witness." 

This dissertation on the advantages of the 
use of the bayonet becomes all the more in- 
teresting if the reader will recall what Wayne 
had to say, while at Ticonderoga, about the 
need of training men to maneuver in the open 
field. According to his ideas, to hide behind 
breastworks was to cultivate cowardice. To 
get out in the field and meet the enemy, man 
to m.an and steel to steel, was to cultivate 
manhood. 

We see now Wayne's ideal of a soldier — 
a man in a dress that would appeal to pride j 
109 



Anthony Wayne 



carrying a musket with bayonet fixed ; trained 
to shoot the musket accurately, and ply the 
bayonet effectively; and willing, as well as 
able, to go through all necessary maneuvers 
on the open field and under fire. 

In March food became so scarce at Valley 
Forge that Wayne was sent over to New Jer- 
sey to forage for supplies. He was, of course, 
to give to the owners of the stuff taken receipts 
which were to be cashed by Congress. It was 
not pleasant work, but it was necessary, and 
Wayne obeyed orders cheerfully. He found 
some pleasure in it, too, when actually in the 
field, for the British had foraging parties in 
the same region, and Wayne chased them back 
to Philadelphia, where they arrived "not 
without some loss attended with Circum- 
stances of Disgrace." That he obtained the 
needed supplies scarcely need be stated. 

Finally, on April 21, 1776, Wayne wrote a 
letter to Washington offering suggestions in 
detail for the coming campaign. 

"I took the Liberty to suggest to your Ex- 
cellency, (some time since), the Idea of making 
an Offensive Campaign against such places 
as afford the greatest prospect of Success to 
us & injury to the enemy. . . . Many Reasons 
(in my humble opinion), both political and 
110 



The Valley Forge Winter 

prudential point to the expediency of putting 
the enemy on the Defensive." 

It was in the spirit thus expressed that 
Wayne went into the battle of Monmouth, 
which was now to come. 



Ill 



CHAPTER XIII 

MONMOUTH 

It was on September 26, 1777, that a part 
of Howe's army under Cornwallis entered 
Philadelphia with banners flying and brass 
bands playing "God save the King." They 
thought it a great triumph to capture "the 
rebel capital." By good luck they held it, 
and settled down for the winter. But in the 
meantime the American representatives in 
France had been able to negotiate a treaty 
whereby the independence of the United 
States was recognized, and an alliance for the 
purpose of war was formed (February 6, 
1778). The British at once declared war 
against France, and then France prepared a 
powerful fleet and an army to send to the 
relief of the Americans. 

Acting in fear of what this force might do 
in the way of blockading the Delaware and 
capturing the smaller British squadron there, 
the British ministry ordered Sir Henry Clin- 
ton to leave Philadelphia and take the army 
to New York. 

112 



Monmouth 

This order reached Sir Henry on June 4, 
1778. At the dawn of June 18th the British 
army crossed to Gloucester Point on the Jer- 
sey shore, and marched away to Haddenfield. 

On learning the facts, Washington 
marched to the northeast (nearly parallel 
with the course of the British), to cross the 
Delaware above Trenton. On June 24th (when 
in camp at Hopewell, N. J., a few miles from 
Princeton) Washington invited his generals 
to a council, wherein he stated to them his 
own force and that of the enemy, and then 
asked them to reply to this question: 

"Will it be advisable to hazard a general 
action? " 

A most memorable council was that. Six- 
teen generals were gathered before Washing- 
ton, with Lee, the Marquis de Lafayette, Lord 
Stirling, of New Jersey, and Baron Steuben 
as the lights from Europe. By right of rank 
Lee answered first, and with arguments that 
seemed to all the foreigners, and to some of 
the Americans, conclusive, he declared against 
such an action. Others followed with similar 
arguments. 

One sees herein how the foreigners in the 
American army served the patriot cause — 
what an incubus they were. For they had no 
113 



Anthony Wayne 



confidence in the ragged hosts of men who 
marched as if they had one foot in the furrow 
and one on the land-side. Even the enthusi- 
astic but much overrated Lafayette and the 
capable Steuben* spoke against an attack 
upon the enemy. 

But when the turn of Anthony Wayne had 
come, and Washington said to him, "What 
would you do, general?" he arose in his place 
and replied with emphasis : 

''Fight, sir!" 

That was the greatest speech known to 
the records of the American councils of war. 
There were but two other generals in the 
council who agreed with Wayne, but Wash- 
ington was one of the two, and "Fight, sir," 
would have ended the war on the plains of 
Monmouth but for the work of the traitor 
Lee. 

While Washington was holding his coun- 
cil of war at Hopewell, the British were in a 
camp that extended from Imlaystown, in 
Monmouth County, to the southwest for three 
miles — as far as Allentown, where the main 
part of the camp lay. 

Up to this date Sir Henry Clinton had pur- 
posed marching to Amboy, and thence to the 

* Kapp says Steuben voted to fight. 

114 



Monmouth 

Hudson River, but Lieutenant-Colonel John 
Graves Simcoe, who was in command of a 
band of Tories (and was a man of whom we 
shall learn something more in this biography), 
discovered the threatening position of Wash- 
ington's men, and Clinton "was led to wish 
for a route less liable to obstacles" than the 
one he had previously decided on, to quote his 
report. 

Accordingly, Sir Henry decided to march 
to Sandy Hook instead of Amboy, hoping 
thereby to "outwit" the Americans, instead 
of fighting them. And on the morning of 
June 25th he sent Knyphausen, with the Hes- 
sians in charge of the baggage, in a proces- 
sion 12 miles long, from Imlaystown on the 
road to Monmouth Court-House (now Free- 
hold, N. J.), while he himself, with the Brit- 
ish portion of the anny, covered the retreat. 

The heat of the season is described as 
something almost intolerable, but Knyphau- 
sen pushed on 13 miles before he halted. 
Clinton halted at the Rising Sun tavern, say 
4 miles out. The next morning (June 26th), 
Knyphausen marched on to Freehold (a dis- 
tance of 4 miles), and here he was over- 
taken by the main body under Clinton, and 
the entire force then camped to the west and 
115 



Anthony Wayne 



north of the court-house, and out along the 
highway that comes to Freehold from the 
southwest. 

It should be remembered now that when, 
on the 25th (after reaching Kingston, 3 miles 
east of Princeton), Washington learned that 
Clinton was heading for Sandy Hook, instead 
of Amboy, he ordered forward Wayne with 
1,000 picked men, and gave Lafayette general 
oversight of all the forces that had been sent 
on in advance. Then, when night came, 
Washington left his baggage-train at King- 
ston and marched to Cranberry (a place 8 
miles to the northwest of Freehold), where he 
arrived on Friday morning, June 26th. At 
the same time the advance corps under Lafay- 
ette took post at Englishtown, 5 miles north- 
west of Freehold. 

Seeing that Washington was determined 
to fight. Gen. Charles Lee now claimed the 
right to command the advance corps, and be- 
cause he was the senior major-general, Wash- 
ington permitted him to go forward with two 
more brigades and displace Lafayette. Lee 
took command of the advance on the 27th, 
and at sunset Washington rode from Cran- 
berry to the advance post at Englishtown, 
and "anxiously reconnoitered Sir Henry's po- 
116 



Monmouth 

sition." He found it was "protected by woods 
and morasses, and too strong to be attacked 
with prospects of success," but he knew that 
when at Middletown, another day's march 
toward Sandy Hook, Sir Henry would have a 
still stronger position, and he saw, therefore, 
that he must fight now if at all. 

Accordingly, he ordered Lee to attack the 
British rear as soon as the head of their col- 
umn should be under way next morning. 
Washington then rode back to his own camp 
at Cranberry, but during the night he began 
to fear that the British would sneak away in 
the night, as Howe had done on the Schuyl- 
kill, and so ordered Lee to send forward 700 
men to observe the movements, and in case 
of their flight, to attack and to hold them as 
long as possible. 

General Dickinson was sent forward on 
this duty, but it was not until sunrise (Sun- 
day, June 28, 1778) that Lee started Dickin- 
son from camp. As Dickinson marched for- 
ward (heading southeast), he saw the enemy 
was in motion, and sent word to Washington 
as well as Lee. Then he boldly continued on 
his way, and after crossing what is known as 
the west ravine, he opened fire on Clinton's 
rear-guard. 

117 



Anthony Wayne 

The messenger who carried the news to 
Washington arrived at five o'clock, and Wash- 
ington immediately sent orders to Lee to 
march forward in pursuit of the enemy, and 
notified him that the main army had thrown 
aside their packs and were coming forward to 
join the advance. 

In obedience to this order Lee moved for- 
ward from Englishtown, Colonel Richard 
Butler, with 200 Pennsylvanians, heading the 
column. General Woodford's brigade (600 
men) came next, General Varnum following 
with 600 men, and then came Wayne with his 
picked men, 1,000 in number, and 2 pieces 
of field-artillery. After Wayne came other 
brigades under Scott and Maxwell, making 
in all nearly 5,000 men and 12 pieces of ar- 
tillery. 

This column was frequently halted by Lee 
during its march, and at one of these halts 
Wayne was ordered to leave his picked men, 
take command of 600 men, and with them go 
forward to beat up the country and locate the 
enemy's rear-guard. 

It was an order to Wayne's taste, and 

crossing the west ravine, through which 

flows Wemrock Brook, he soon discovered a 

small covering party of the enemy, and made 

118 



Monmouth 

them fly in "very great disorder and con- 
fusion." 

In the meantime Sir Henry Clinton had 
been careful to place the best of his command 
in the rear of all, because he was looking for 
an attack. As Clinton marched away Wayne 
saw him, and sent a messenger to Lee asking 
that "the troops might be pushed on." Lee, 
of course, omitted to push on, until he learned 
that a party, 800 or 900 strong, had stopped 
to the east of the court-house, and were plainly 
waiting for the Americans. Lee then ordered 
Wayne, whose earnestness and activity were 
manifest, to take 700 men from his Pennsyl- 
vanians (Butler with his battalion of 200 be- 
ing among them), with two pieces of artillery, 
and charge this covering party of at least 800 
men. And "with his wonted gallantry. Gen- 
eral Wayne did so." This Wayne did so ef- 
fectually that Clinton sent back the Queen's 
light dragoons to help the 800 resist the 700 
Pennsylvanians. 

As the dragoons came galloping back, 
Wayne's men promptly formed to receive 
them, with Butler's 200 at the fore, and they 
not only stood the shock, but at the point of 
the bayonet drove the horsemen through the 
British infantry, and then across the east 
119 



Anthony Wayne 



ravine, as a low stretch of ground east of the 
court-house was called. Thither Wayne pur- 
sued them, and on reaching an eminence be- 
yond the ravine he planted two pieces of ar- 
tillery (under Colonel Oswald) and opened 
fire on a third detachment that was coming 
back to attack him. 

In the meantime Lee had carried his col- 
umn in a detour off to the north of where 
"Wayne was fighting against odds, and had 
advanced so far to the east of the court-house 
that his column had crossed the east ravine. 
On seeing this, Clinton turned back with the 
main body of his army and began to form in 
line to give battle. 

The supreme moment for which Washing- 
ton had hoped had come. If any patriot of 
the army had been in command in place of the 
traitor Lee, the fight would have been forced 
by the Americans until Washington (whose 
men were coming in hot haste) could arrive 
and decide the fate of the day quickly. With 
a man of Wayne's temper in command, there 
would have been no need to wait for Wash- 
ington. But Lee, to aid Clinton, immediately 
began to retreat with his column. And ap- 
parently this order for retreat had in it some- 
thing more than a desire to aid the British, 
120 



Monmouth 

for although Wayne had sent for reenforce- 
ments, Lee abandoned him to his fate. Lee 
knew that at this moment, to quote his own 
words in a letter to Robert Morris, that "the 
force opposed to the American Army was the 
whole flower of the British Army, Grenadiers, 
Light Infantry, Cavalry & Artillery, amount- 
ing in all to 7,000 men." 

With only 700 men and two pieces of artil- 
lery, Wayne was left to face "the whole 
flower of the British Army." But Wayne 
was the man for the occasion. Holding his 
men together he backed away. He was "often 
hard pushed and frequently surrounded," but 
he cut his way through and saved his guns 
as well as his men. And when the retreating 
host came to the middle ravine once more 
Wayne was found with his unsurpassed Penn- 
sylvanians, "in the post of danger, next to the 
enemy," whom he was keeping "two, three or 
four hundred yards distant." 

It was in this fashion that Wayne covered 
Lee's retreating force as it crossed the cause- 
way over the middle ravine, which lay half- 
way between the east ravine and the west. 
No point had been assigned for a halt to 
check the exultant British, though Wayne saw 
no difficulty in holding them back, "i^rovided 
9 121 



Anthony Wayne 



any effort or exertion was made for the pur- 
pose." 

Meantime stragglers got on ahead of the 
main part of Lee's command, and from them 
Washington learned that, although Lee had 
sent word that success was assured, the whole 
advanced American force was retreating. 

At this time Washington's part of the 
army was approaching the west ravine. Not 
able to believe the reports, Washington sent 
aids forward, and these soon brought back 
a confirmation. 

With his blood on fire, Washington dashed 
forward, down into the west ravine, and up 
on the side toward the enemy, into the midst 
of Lee's retreating column. Facing them 
about, he ordered them into line across the 
road, with Wayne on the right And then 
as the men with thankfulness and enthusi- 
asm obeyed these orders, the traitor Lee 
rode up. 

"What is the meaning of all this?" de- 
manded Washington fiercely. "I desire to 
know the meaning of this disorder and con- 
fusion? " 

" By God, sir, American soldiers can not 
fight British grenadiers," replied Lee. 

"By God, they can fight any upon the face 
122 



Monmouth 

of the earth," said Washington, "and you are 
a damned poltroon." 

Washington then went on directing Lee's 
column into line, and when that was done, he 
went back to bring forward the remainder of 
the army. 

It is a matter of just pride in Pennsylva- 
nia that Wayne, with three regiments from his 
own State and one each from Virginia and 
Maryland, was jDlaced in the post of honor — 
an orchard on the southerly side of the road. 
This post they were to hold until Washington 
brought up the reenforcements, and they did 
it for a time without difficulty, because the 
British, save for two brigades, were yet a con- 
siderable distance away. As the American 
reenforcements came up and took position in 
the line, however, the main body of the enemy 
under Lord Cornwallis arrived within range, 
and there halted. 

But the halt was only momentary. As 
soon as he had observed the position and 
strength of the American line, Cornwallis or- 
dered Colonel Monckton, commander of the 
British grenadiers, to charge with the bayo- 
net, and Monckton formed his men directly in 
front of the division that was under Anthony 
Wayne. 

123 



Anthony Wayne 



Wayne had been hard pressed and even 
surrounded while retreating. His command 
had been in deadly peril from the time of 
their charge on the rear-guard at the court- 
house, but for him and them the critical mo- 
ment of the battle was now at hand. For the 
grenadiers were picked men of known 
strength, proved courage, and unequaled skill 
with the bayonet. They were officered by the 
pick of the British aristocracy — by men who 
were the pride of the British nation. 

Advancing before his men, Monckton made 
them a sjDeech, "in which he urged them by 
all the motives that appeal to a soldier's pride 
and esprit de corps" to do their work man- 
fashion. And while he spoke the field of bat- 
tle became so quiet that every word was heard 
by every man who stood behind Anthony 
Wayne. 

And then as Monckton ceased to talk, the 
drums rolled the charge, and the grenadiers, 
in their gorgeous uniforms, leaped forward 
with eager shouts and with bayonets down. 
As they came the ragged host with Wayne 
waited in dead silence until the range was 
no more than 30 yards, and then they put 
their muskets to their faces and opened a 
fire that flung back the red line of the ene- 
124 



Monmouth 

my as a gust of wind flings dead leaves be- 
fore it. 

Monekton himself fell dead at the first fire, 
and on learning that he was killed, his men 
returned in desperation to recover his body. 
They even continued their efforts till some of 
them fell dead from heat and sheer exhaus- 
tion — but without avail. For neither pride 
nor courage nor skill could drive them 
through the line where Wayne commanded. 
It was of these men that Washington had 
said : 

"By God, they can fight any upon the face 
of the earth." 

And the race seems not to have deterio- 
rated since that day. 

It was against Wayne, who was the nerve 
center of the American army, that the flower 
of the British army was hurled, and when it 
had fallen into disordered petals and broken 
stamens, the whole British force retreated. 
But because of their exhaustion under the 
frightful heat of the day Washington allowed 
his men to camp on the field. 

■ Of Wayne's part in the battle Washing- 
ton, who mentioned no other officer by name, 
wrote: "I cannot forbear mentioning Briga- 
dier-General Wayne, whose good conduct and 
125 



Anthony Wayne 



bravery through the whole action deserves 
particular commendation." And to this Stille 
adds, that "to many the orchard at Mon- 
mouth seemed a second Thermopylae, and 
Wayne was spoken of as a modern Leonidas." 

At Germantown Wayne had shown what 
he and his men could do in charging the 
enemy with the bayonet. At Monmouth he 
demonstrated that they could also stand the 
shock of cavalry and the bayonet charge of 
the most powerful grenadiers of Europe. He 
had earned all the praise that was given him, 
and more. But there was one feature of his 
character that was brought out at this time 
that endears him even more than his work in 
battle to the heart of a soldier. For when the 
battle was over he sat down to write to his 
personal friend, Major "Light-Horse Harry " 
Lee, and this is what he had to say about the 
battle : 

"I wished for you to come in for a share 
of the Glory of the 28th. Col. Butler wanted 
you much. The Enemy's Horse, supported 
by the first Eegiment of the Guards, made a 
charge upon his Reg't, consisting of 200 men. 
He sustained the shock, broke them & pur- 
sued both horse & foot, the Latter having been 
thrown into Disorder by the former running 
126 



Monmouth 

tlirough them. Here was a field for you to 
act in." 

The whole praise of the splendid fighting 
at the court-house early in the day is thus 
given to a subordinate officer, Colonel Rich- 
ard Butler. 



127 



CHAPTER Xiy 

WHEN WAYNE WAS SUPERSEDED BY ST. CLAIR 

For more than a year after the Battle of 
Monmouth the British were blockaded in New 
York by a thin line of rags — a line through 
which the British were able to break by an oc- 
casional raiding party, it is true, but which 
bound them to inaction. But in the meantime 
there were incidents of interest in the career 
of Anthony Wayne that shall receive consid- 
eration here. 

The traitor Lee, with the instincts of a 
blackleg, thought to bluff the whole American 
nation, and succeeded to an astonishing de- 
gree. He wrote letters to the newspapers. in 
which he attacked Washington, Steuben, and 
Wayne, and maintained such an attitude of 
haughty defiance when tried for his crime at 
Monmouth that the court-martial, though it 
found him guilty as charged, merely sus- 
pended him for one year. He was eventually 
dismissed from the army for writing an inso- 
lent letter to Congress, but, sad to relate, died 
a natural death. 

128 



when Wayne was Superseded 

In the meantime his attack on the officers 
mentioned brought him three challenges to 
fight duels. The insult to Washington was 
taken up by Colonel John Laurens, of Wash- 
ington's staff. Lee had shown sufficient phys- 
ical courage in battle, but when it came to 
dueling he promptly accepted the challenge of 
Laurens, who was the least capable, as he sup- 
posed, of doing him harm in a duel. He had 
no relish for meeting the man who had led the 
Pennsylvanians against superior forces be- 
side Monmouth Court-House, nor did he dare 
face the grim German warrior from the army 
of Frederick the Great. Laurens wounded 
him, and with that wound as an excuse, he 
evaded the other challenges. 

It is a pleasing fact that while biographers 
of Andrew Jackson, and even of John Paul 
Jones, have felt obliged to apologize for the 
fact that these great men were duelists, no 
one has made a similar apology for Wayne. 
When rightly viewed, the duels of Jackson 
and the willingness of Wayne and Jones 
to fight duels are entirely commendable. 
Wayne, like Jones, did not fight even one duel, 
but he failed to do so only because his ene- 
mies dared not face him. Like Jones, Wayne 
was "every kind of a fighting man there was." 
129 



Anthony Wayne 



Wayne was engaged for a time as a wit- 
ness before the court-martial that tried Lee. 
When he had thereafter gone to his post 
undej Washington, we once more find him 
making appeals for supplies for his men, and 
for justice in the matter of rank for his offi- 
cers. The people of the whole country, and 
especially those in authority, were fully per- 
suaded that the French would now end the 
war quickly. Count d'Estaing, with a big fleet 
of ships, arrived on the American coast bring- 
ing 4,000 men. He found the British fleet in- 
side of Sandy Hook. If he had had half the 
ability of a Nelson he would have swooped in 
on that fleet and captured it, but he sailed 
away, giving as an excuse that there was not 
depth of water enough for maneuvering his 
ships. He went to Rhode Island, and there 
failed again. But not even then were the 
American people deprived of the illusion that 
the French were to end the war, and it was 
therefore next to impossible to secure either 
recruits or supplies for the army. 

In a letter to the Secretary of the War 
Board, dated July 12, 1778, Wayne says his 
troops were "naked," In a letter to Robert 
Morris, dated October 5, 1778, he says: "In 
the article of Clothing their Distresses are 
130 



when Wayne was Superseded 

great." On December 28th he wrote to Presi- 
dent Joseph Reed, of Pennsylvania, saying, 
"all the Pennsylvania Line are at this in- 
clement season exposed to wind and weather 
in their old tents, one-third of them being 
quite destitute of blankets and without hats" 
Many of the officers were "actually so naked 
as not to be fit to appear on parade." 

And yet society in Philadelphia at this 
time was described by Colonel Walter Stew- 
art, who had been sent there to urge the needs 
of the soldiers, as follows : 

"It is all gaiety, and from what I can ob- 
serve, every lady and gentleman endeavors 
to outdo the other in splendor & show." To 
this Washington adds a still more striking 
description : 

"Idleness, dissipation and extravagance 
seem to have laid fast hold of the generality, 
and peculation, speculation & an insatiable 
thirst for riches to have gotten the better of 
every other consideration, and of almost 
every order of men. . . . The momentous 
concerns of the empire, a great & accumula- 
ting debt, ruined finances, depreciated money 
& want of credit, which is want of everything, 
are secondary considerations, and postponed 
by Congress from time to time, as if their af- 
131 



Anthony Wayne 



fairs wore the most promising aspect. The 
paper [money] is daily sinking fifty per cent, 
and yet an assembly, a concert, a dinner or a 
supper which costs from £200 to £300 does 
not only take men off from acting, but even 
from thinking of their business." 

To such congressmen as are here described 
and other stay-at-home patriots of like char- 
acter Wayne was obliged to appeal for the 
necessaries of life for his men, and in his let- 
ter to Reed he was so much discouraged that 
he said: 

"I neither ask nor wish for anything on 
my own account, and wish for nothing more 
than an opportunity of returning to my Sa- 
bine fields with safety to my country and 
honor to myself ; and I am detennined to seize 
the first favorable opportunity to put that 
wish into execution." 

And then in a letter to Robert Morris he 
says: 

"I have more than once expressed a wish 
for a favorable opportunity of quitting the 
army. That period is now drawing nigh. I 
therefore can have no interest in view other 
than wishing to see brave and worthy officers 
who have shared every vicissitude of fortune 
with me, and who have nobly fought and bled 
132 



when Wayne was Superseded 

in every field of action, lionorably provided 
for, not left, (when crippled with honest 
wounds & grown gray in arms), to depend 
upon the cold charity of men who have grown 
rich under the shelter of their protecting 
swords." 

Finally he went before the Pennsylvania 
Assembly (whose duty it was, rather than 
that of Congress, to provide for the Pennsyl- 
vania Line), and by a speech, of which we 
know only that it was full of pathos, caused 
them to pass an act by which the men of the 
line were to receive half pay for life, suitable 
uniforms, and exemption from taxation of the 
land grants that had been made to them. This 
act gave the men temporary relief, but it 
was not passed until in March. The men 
might have passed this winter in tents, for all 
the Assembly did, but Wayne had built huts, 
so that they were no worse off (and no bet- 
ter) than at Valley Forge. 

In the meantime Wayne had himself been 
subjected to a serious indignity. Major-Gen- 
eral St. Clair was placed in command of the 
Pennsylvania Line over Wayne's head. In 
itself the ordering of a major-general to com- 
mand this division was not necessarily an in- 
dignity, for the superior rank of St. Clair 
133 



Anthony Wayne 



gave him the legal right to the command after 
he had been court-martialed and acquitted on 
the charge that he abandoned Ticonderoga 
improperly. But Wayne had good reasons 
for disliking to serve under St. Clair. St. 
Clair had been an ensign in the British line 
before the war, and had been promoted rap- 
idly because of the supposed superiority his 
experience had given him. Though he had 
done nothing in battle or elsewhere of which 
his latter-day biographer is able to boast, he 
had been a major-general since February 19, 
1777. 

Wayne had won the plaudits of every 
fighting man of the army at every battle 
where he had been present, from Three 
Rivers to Monmouth, and was yet a briga- 
dier-general. And he had made the Pennsyl- 
vania Line the best-trained division in the 
patriot army. He did not care for the rank 
of major-general, but he had been doing a 
major-general's work for more than a year, 
and he felt that to be returned to the work of 
a brigadier-general was, under the circum- 
stances, a personal degradation. 

There was still further reason why he 
should object to serving under St. Clair. 
When Wayne had been tried and acquitted on 
13i 



when Wayne was Superseded 

the charge that he had neglected his duty at 
the Paoli massacre, St. Clair openly sneered 
at the finding of the court. And at the Battle 
of Monmouth, when Wayne was leading the 
advance against superior numbers, and sent 
for three more brigades to come to his aid, 
St. Clair, who was present as a volunteer, 
"l^eremptorily ordered them not to advance." 
"Wayne believed that St. Clair was unwilling 
to see him gain the honor of success on that 
field, or else that he was ignorant of the needs 
of the occasion. From what we know now 
of St. Clair it seems likely that ignorance 
rather than malice actuated him. In any 
event, Wayne gained success in spite of him, 
and St. Clair held a hearty ill will against 
him. 

It was under such circumstances that 
Wayne, on learning that St. Clair's wish to 
supersede him was to be granted, wrote a let- 
ter of protest in which are these words : 

"I don't mean by this to ask for promo- 
tion. My only ambition was a Brigadier 
General's Command of the Penn'a line, which 
command I have been indulged in for two 
campaigns and therefore thought I had some 
claim to that honor in future. But to be 
superseded at this late hour by a man in 
135 



Anthony Wayne 



whose conduct and candor I can have no con- 
fidence hurts me not a little. ... I only hoped 
not to be degraded, that is, reduced from the 
command of a division to a brigade, and that 
under a man, who for reasons I have already- 
mentioned, I can never submit to. I have 
therefore determined to return to domestic 
life, and leave the blustering field of Mars to 
the possession of gentlemen of more worth." 

All men of military experience justify 
Wayne in the position taken here, but the pa- 
triotism of the man rose above his just indig- 
nation. He would do his whole duty by his 
country in spite of ill treatment, and holding 
back this letter, he sent instead a request for 
a leave of absence (February, 1779). And 
in this application for a leave of absence he 
shows his interest in the men who had served 
with him by saying that if he were allowed to 
leave the command, Colonel Richard Butler 
and Colonel William Irvine would not be de- 
graded from the work of brigadiers, which 
they had been doing, to that of colonels. 

The leave was granted, and then for the 
first time in his career he writes of his own 
work to Washington, as if he wished for 
words or thoughts of commendation. This is 
what he says : 

136 



when Wayne was Superseded 

"I made a point of having my people well 
and comfortably covered previously to my 
leaving them, and hope that the appearance 
of the men, and the regularity and internal 
police of our new city, have met your Excel- 
lency's approbation." 

■ To this he adds : "I also flatter myself that 
General St. Clair will be pleased with the 
command that always have and ever will do 
their duty in the field." 

One would naturally infer that Wayne 
wrote such words as these only when some 
important end was in view, and that was the 
ease. The formation of a light corps of men 
to be selected because of their experience, 
strength, skill, and proved courage for work 
at the front during the campaign of 1779 had 
been under consideration by Washington and 
his generals, and Wayne, after mentioning 
his own services, as just quoted, says : 

"I therefore wish to be indulged with a 
situation in the light corps, if it can take place 
without prejudice to the service, or the ex- 
clusion of an officer of more worth and expe- 
rience. 

"But if that cannot be done, I beg your ex- 
cellency not to spend another thought, or give 
yourself a single moment's uneasiness on the 
10 137 



Anthony Wayne 



occasion ; but permit me to hope for the con- 
tinuance of that friendship with which you 
have hitherto honored me, and in case of an 
active campaign, the pleasure of serving near 
your person as a volunteer." 

An appeal like that from a man who had 
done such work as Wayne had done was not 
to be resisted. Washington came to a defi- 
nite decision to form the light corps, and to 
place Wayne in command of it. Thus it hap- 
pened that permitting St. Clair to take com- 
mand of the Pennsylvanian line, though mani- 
festly an outrage, was one of the most fortu- 
nate events of Wayne's life. For now the 
assault upon Stony Point was at hand. 



138 



CHAPTER XV 

STONY POINT 

In a letter dated January 23, 1779, Lord 
George Germain, the British Minister of War, 
wrote to Sir Henry Clinton, who still com- 
manded in New York, to say: "It is most 
earnestly wished that you may be able to 
bring Mr. Washington to a general and decisive 
action at the opening campaign." If unable 
to do this, then "Mr. Washington " was to be 
cooped in the Highlands of the Hudson, and 
civil government established in the open 
country. 

In order to carry out these instructions, 
Sir Henry placed a considerable force on his 
ships, late in May, 1779, and sailing up the 
Hudson by easy stages, he took possession 
(June 1, 1779) of Stony Point on the west 
side of the river, and Verplanck's Point, op- 
posite, on the east side. The Americans had 
small detachments of men at work fortifying 
both points at the time, and that on Stony 
Point escaped by a retreat over Dunderberg 
139 



Anthony . Wayne 



Mountain, while the 70 men on Verplanck's 
Point were surrounded and captured. 

"Washington was encamped at this time at 
Middlebrook, N. J. Clinton wished to draw 
the American forces to the Highlands of the 
Hudson in order to open the way for the cap- 
ture of the American base of supplies at 
Easton, Pa. 

This threatened attack on the Highlands 
drew Washingion from Middlebrook, as Clin- 
ton hoped it would. For there was a regular 
ferry (called King's) from Stony Point to 
Verplanck's, and it had been in daily use by 
the Americans in sending communications be- 
tween Washington and the forces east of the 
Hudson. The Americans left their quarters 
at Middlebrook on May 30th, and on June 6th 
they passed Tuxedo Lake to enter "the valley 
running northeasterly from that point " — a 
valley then known as Smith's Cove. The next 
day the Virginia division camped at Jones's 
tavern, near the modern Turner's Station, on 
the Erie Eailroad. There they could cover 
the road to Haverstraw, while the Pennsylva- 
nia division took post 5 miles farther on 
(where a road led off to Fort Montgomery, on 
the Hudson) and within 12 miles of West 
Point. It was a tribute to Wayne, let it be 
140 



Stony Point 



noted, that the men he had trained were 
placed in advance — at the post of honor. 

At this time CHnton's force included 
12,000 veterans and 4,000 well-armed Tories. 
"Washington's immediate command numbered 
5,000 men, of whom 3,000 only were fit for an 
■active campaign. But with all his superior 
numbers, Clinton still felt unable to march 
across New Jersey. He therefore thought to 
draw Washington to the east side of the Hud- 
son by sending General William Tryon and 
Sir George Collier (July 3, 1779) to ravage 
the Connecticut coast. And it was then that 
Washington showed himself the general, as 
Wayne used to say, for instead of marching 
to the defense of Connecticut he ordered An- 
thony Wayne to attack the enemy on the Hud- 
son, and the work was done so thoroughly that 
the marauders in Connecticut were fright- 
ened from their outrageous task. 

On June 21st Washington wrote to Wayne 
(who was still in Pennsylvania) to "join the 
army as soon as you can." Washington was 
now selecting men for the light corps already 
mentioned, and they were organized into four 
regiments of 340 men each. Each regiment 
was divided into two battalions. The First 
Eegiment was commanded by Colonel Chris- 
141 



Anthony Wayne 



tian Febiger, and liis battalions were com- 
manded by Lieutenant-Colonel Fleury, a 
Frenchman, and Major Thomas Posey, a 
Virginian, afterward Governor of Indiana. 
The Second Regiment was commanded by 
Colonel Richard Butler, of Pennsylvania, and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Samuel Hay, of Pennsyl- 
vania, and Major "Jack" Steward (one of 
the famous Marylanders of the war) com- 
manded the two battalions. The Third Regi- 
ment was commanded by Colonel Return 
Jonathan Meigs, a noted figure in the West 
later on, while Lieutenant-Colonel Isaac 
Sherman and Captain Henry Champion 
headed the battalions. The Fourth Regiment 
was commanded by Colonel Rufus Putnam 
(afterward well known to Ohio history), and 
the battalions by Major William Hull (who 
threw away his reputation at Detroit during 
the next war) and by Major Hardy Murfree, 
of North Carolina. Men from Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Maryland, 
Virginia, and North Carolina — men who had 
fought at Bunker Hill, stormed the gates at 
Quebec, defended the fords at Brandywine, 
and charged through the fog at Germantown 
— now stood shoulder to shoulder. They 
were equipped for swift movements, and 
142 



Stony Point 



every man of them knew and trusted An- 
thony Wayne, who was to commmand them. 

The First and Second Eegiments were or- 
ganized in Washington's camp, and the Third 
and Fourth in the New England division, east 
of the Hudson. The First and Second Regi- 
ments were stationed at Sandy Beach, just 
above Fort Montgomery. The regiments 
east of the river were left there, and not even 
the officers of any of the four regiments 
learned what their first work was to be until 
it was ready in hand. 

Immediately on Wayne's arrival he was 
ordered (July 1st) to his command at Sandy 
Beach, a mile or more above Fort Montgom- 
ery, where the regiments of the light infantry 
under Butler and Febiger were encamped on 
the farm of Benjamin Jaques, a patriot who 
had had a part in the defense of Fort Mont- 
gomery in the massacre of 1777. At Sandy 
Beach Wayne was to "exert himself to gain 
an accurate knowledge of the scene of action." 

Stony Point, at that time, was a rugged, 
thumb-shaped island, 100 acres in extent, 
lying close to the west bank of the Hud- 
son River, 12 miles (by water) below West 
Point. At its highest point it rose 140 feet 
above the tide, and it was precipitous and 
143 



Anthony Wayne 



rough on all sides, but particularly so on the 
west, or shore side. Between the island and 
mainland was a marsh through which ran 
a channel, originally deep enough for row- 
boats. A causeway, or dirt roadway, had 
been built across the marsh, opposite the cen- 
ter of the island, by the Americans, in order 
to reach their ferry landing (on the north side 
of the island), and the roadway obstructed the 
flow of the tidal current. In consequence of 
this the waves threw up the sand at both ends 
of the marsh until at low tide a narrow beach 
extending from the mainland to the island 
was uncovered. 

On taking possession of Stony Point the 
British went to "work like a Parsels of Devils 
in fortifying both " it and Verplanck's, as 
Colonel Malcom reported on June 7th. No 
less than fourteen different breastworks were 
created at various points on the irregular 
crest of the island. Three of them were lo- 
cated in a line to command the whole sweep 
of the land approach to the point, while six 
others were placed where they would com- 
mand storming patriots that might approach 
from various points. 

In front of the line of three breastworks 
was placed a strong line of abatis, reaching 
144 



Stony Point 



across the island from water to water, and 
another line of abatis was drawn across far- 
ther out from the west shore, where it would 
protect the irregularly placed works just 
mentioned. 

In the breastworks were mounted ''two 24 
Prs. and two 18 Prs., four 12 Prs., six 6 Prs,, 
and one 3 Pr., one 10 Inch Mortar, one 8 Inch 
Howitzer, two Royal Mortars, and two Co- 
horns" (Gen. Pattison's letter to Lord Town- 
shend). The post was garrisoned by 607 
men, under Lieutenant-Colonel Henry John- 
son, of the Seventeenth British Regiment of 
foot, and to them came three deserters from 
the American army soon after Washington 
reached Smith's Cove. So well adapted for 
defense was the point both by nature and by 
the works created that the garrison habitu- 
ally spoke of it as their "Little Gibraltar." 

All these works for defense Wayne saw 
as he gazed upon the point from the heights 
of Donderberg, and on July 3d he reported to 
Washington, saying, "I do not think a storm 
practicable," but when he came to talk the 
matter over with Washington, and the possi- 
bilities of success in case a storm was at- 
tempted, were considered, Wayne said to his 
chief : 

145 



Anthony Wayne 

"General, I'll storm hell, if you will plan 
it." 

Some fastidious people have tried to 
throw a shade of doubt over the account (in 
Irving's Washington) which gives these vig- 
orous words of Wayne, but it was unquestion- 
ably in Wayne to say just that. 

At Wayne's suggestion Washington him- 
self went (July 6th), with an escort of the 
light infantry, to take a look at the point, and 
because of the strength of the works, it was 
then decided to make a night assault rather 
than to tiy to storm it by day. 

The details of the prej^aration for the as- 
sault are of special interest to this biography. 
It was then that Wayne wrote to Washington 
(July 8th) to say: "I have an insuperable 
bias in favor of an elegant uniform." Next 
he asked that a copy of Baron Steuben's text- 
book of instructions in the manual of arms 
and field maneuvers be furnished to each offi- 
cer of the corps. And then he said: "Your 
excellency must must have observed how 
wretchedly our platoon officers are armed," 
and asked that 50 "espontoons " — a short- 
handled, broad-bladed, keen-pointed spear — 
"the neatest and best" to be had, might be 
sent to him. And they were wanted quickly, 
146 



Stony Point 



says Wayne, "as I wish immediately to prac- 
tise with them." 

He got the spears, but only a few of the 
books, and no fine uniforms at all. 

As the time passed Wayne kept "a small 
party of rifle men hovering about " the point. 
They had orders to keep the enemy "in con- 
stant alarm, with a promise of 20 dollars 
bounty for each deserter from our army that 
they can take up." "I have given the most 
pointed orders against a surprise," he adds, 
"and not to trust any man in that country." 

On July 10th Washington decided on the 
plan of attack. He sent it to Wayne, going 
into considerable detail, and yet allowing him 
to change it as might seem best when the time 
came. Accordingly, on July 11th, Wayne, 
with his colonels, Butler and Febiger — the 
light infantry selected east of the Hudson had 
been left there lest transferring them across to 
Sandy Beach might arouse suspicion — made 
another careful examination of the land about 
the point, and this was followed by the most 
careful patrolling of the land by "Light-Horse 
Harry " Lee, with 150 scouts, and by Captain 
James Chrystie, of Pennsylvania, with a 
smaller detachment, while Captain Allen Mc- 
Lane had charge of the sentries. So thor- 
147 



Anthony Wayne 



ough was tlie work of keeping all knowledge 
of the movement from the enemy that Cap- 
tain McLane arrested "the Widow Calhoun 
and another widow going to the enemy with 
chickens and greens," while the men under 
Lee killed every dog within 3 miles of the 
point lest the bark of a cur give an untimely 
warning. 

Finally, on July 14th, the light-infantry 
regiments lying east of the river were brought 
across to Sandy Beach, where they were hut- 
ted in brush and bark shelters, for Wayne 
had been ordered to start for Stony Point the 
next day at noon. At this time not a man in 
the ranks, nor even the field-officers, save 
those that had been scouting, knew what 
work was in hand. Late in the next morning 
all the battalions of light infantry — 1,350 men 
all told — were ordered out on parade, and 
the order said distinctly that every man must 
appear "fresh shaved and well powdered," 
and fully equipped and rationed, that the gen- 
eral might judge of their provision and readi- 
ness for service (Johnston). 

"Fresh shaved and well powdered" the 

men lined up, and Wayne and his field-officers 

walked down the long line, looking at each 

musket to see that it was fit for work, and into 

148 



Stony Point 



each haversack to see that the proper food 
was there, too. And it is certain that the men 
were commended, where possible, and made 
cheerful and self-confident. 

At noon precisely, July 15, 1779, the in- 
spection was finished, but when the men were 
listening for the order to break ranks and 
return to their huts for dinner they were 
faced south and marched down along the 
plateau on which they had paraded, as far as 
Fort Montgomery. There they turned to the 
west and filed into the gorge between Bear 
Mountain on their left and Torn Mountain on 
the right. A small detachment of artillery 
with two guns followed them, but the guns 
were not to take part in the assault. 

The route was but a wilderness trail, and 
in perfect silence the men in single file 
marched along on the mountainside where 
the deer had at one time marked the trail. 
The primeval forest was over and around 
them for perhajDS 5 miles from the starting- 
point. The route bent somewhat to the south- 
west after entering the mountains, and 5 
miles from Fort Montgomery they reached 
the wilderness home of one Clement. Here, 
beside a brook, the command stopped to rest, 
for it was a hot, midsummer's day. Under 
149 



Anthony Wayne 



the strictest orders from Wayne not a man 
had been allowed to leave the column, and 
now while they were at rest no man could 
leave it unless a commissioned officer went 
with him. 

When refreshed, the men marched on, 
turning to the south and southeast a short way 
beyond Clement's, and passing over the south- 
west end of Donderberg Mountain, they de- 
scended part way into a valley, and at eight 
o'clock at night arrived at the farm of one 
David Springsteel, from whose home one 
could look down, by day, upon Stony Point, 
just a mile and a half away. 

At this point the men first learned what 
work they were to do that night. Gathering 
up the long file of men, Febiger formed a 
column with his own regiment at the head, that 
of Colonel Meigs next, and a battalion under 
Major Hull last. Colonel Butler then formed 
another column with his own regiment at the 
head, and including all the remainder of the 
light miantry, except Major Murfree's battal- 
ion, which was formed in a column by itself. 

Then frqm each of the two main columns 

150 "determined and picked men " were 

chosen, and placed in column each about 

20 paces in advance of the column from 

150 



Stony Point 



which it had been selected — in the post of 
honor. Lieutenant - Colonel Fleury com- 
manded Febiger's advanced detachment; 
Major "Jack " Steward that of Colonel But- 
ler. 

The order of battle was now read to the 
command in a low but distinct voice. The 
men had come thus far with unloaded mus- 
kets and fixed bayonets. They were now, 
save Murfree's, commanded to keep their 
muskets unloaded, and the officers were in- 
structed to kill instantly any man who should 
disobey this order. The work must be done 
with the bayonet, save only as all the offi- 
cers were armed with the short-handled, 
keen-pointed spears for which Wayne had 
written. 

" The General has the fullest confidence in 
the bravery and fortitude of the corps," 
said Wayne, but in order to show appreci- 
ation of the exhibition of special bravery and 
fortitude, the first five men to enter the ene- 
my's works were to receive $500, $400, $300, 
$200, and $100, in the order in which they 
entered, while the first of all was to have pro- 
motion also. On the other hand, "should 
there be any soldier so lost to the feeling of 
Honor as to attempt to retreat one single foot 
151 



Anthony Wayne 



or skulk in the face of danger, the Officer next 
to him is immediately to put him to death — 
that he may no longer disgrace the name 
of a Soldier, or the Corps or State he be- 
longs to." 

"The misconduct of one man is not to put 
the whole troops in danger or disorder, and 
be suffered to pass with life," said Wayne. 

It was explained meantime that Colonel 
Febiger's column was to march to the south- 
ern end of the swamp that protected Stony 
Point, and after crossing on the sand-bar 
there, was to charge up the south side of the 
point. With Febiger's column Wayne was to 
march. Colonel Butler was to pass to the 
northern end of the swamp, cross a sand-bar 
there, and charge up the north side of the 
point. In the meantime Major Murfree was 
to lead his men slowly down the causeway, 
with muskets loaded, and as soon as he should 
hear the column at the south end of the 
swamp under fire, he was to charge across 
the causeway bridge and fire as rapidly as 
possible in order to lead the enemy to sup- 
pose that the main attack was to be made 
there. 

Last of all, Colonel Febiger and Colonel 
Butler chose each 20 men from their guards 
152 



Stony Point 



of honor, and these 20 slung their muskets 
on their backs, and with suitable tools for 
destroying the abatis, took places ahead of 
all. Each little squad of 20 was to clear 
the way for the column behind it, and 
then, if they lived, they were to join, musket 
in hand, in the charge on the breastworks. 
And as a striking proof of the spirit of the 
whole command, there was an instant quarrel 
among the junior officers for the honor of 
leading these little squads, and the quarrel 
had to be settled by casting lots. Captain Gib- 
bons had the good luck to win command of the 
squad in Butler's column, and Lieutenant 
George Knox won command of the other. 

Meantime every man had received a piece 
of white paper which he secured to his hat to 
distinguish friends from the enemy, and it 
was ordered that "when the works are forced, 
and not before, the victorious troops, as they 
enter, will give the watchword ' The fort is 
ours.' " 

When the work had been fully explained 
to the command, Wayne, with a few of his 
officers, went down toward the point to make 
a final exploration of the routes over which 
the three divisions were to march. The ex- 
act routes to the sand-bars and the causeway 
11 153 



Anthony Wayne 



were followed carefully and found clear. 
The party then returned to Springsteel's 
house, where Wayne put himself at the head 
of Febiger's column, and at 11.30 o'clock pre- 
cisely gave the word : 

"Forward." 

Silently the columns marched down the 
long grade until within a mile of the swamp, 
when each headed alone for its post. Skirt- 
ing the swamp, Wayne and his column 
reached the sand-bar which they were to cross, 
only to find that the tide had covered it waist- 
deep. But without a pause they waded in, 
and at 12.30 o'clock as the advanced squad 
first splashed the water, a British sentry 
heard the noise, saw an advancing column, 
and opened fire. 

At that Murfree's men made a spluttering 
dash at the bridge on the causeway, and 
Wayne's column, with hastening steps, 
crossed the neck of water 200 yards wide. 
Before they were half-way over the British 
had manned the breastworks and began firing 
with great guns and small, but the Americans 
charged on with bayonets ready. As they 
attacked the abatis 17 of the little advanced 
squad ahead of Wayne's column were shot 
down and Wayne was struck in the head with 
154 




12; 

M 
O 

O 
H 
02 

&( 
O 

i 

o 



Stony Point 



a musket ball that knocked him to the ground. 
But he shouted : 

"March on!" And then said to his aids: 
"Help me into the fort. Let me die at the 
head of my column." 

They marched on. The British were 
pitchforked from their guns in the breast- 
works, and with the agile Frenchman Fleury 
leading all, they dashed into the midst of the 
fortified camp, and shouted in voices heard 
from Dunderberg to Verplanck's Point : " The 
fort is ours ! The fort's our own ! " 

To these cries Butler's men, though they 
had had a longer route to cover, gave quick 
response, for they came in over the north- 
side breastworks with the spirit that had been 
shown on the south. 

And as the Americans raised their shouts 
of triumph the British, by the score, threw 
away their arms and kneeling down, cried : 

"Mercy ! Mercy, dear Americans ! Quar- 
ter! Quarter!" 

At that the slaughter stopped instantly. 
The British flag was hauled down (by 
Fleury) and the guns that would bear were 
turned on the British war-ship Vulture, lying 
at anchor in the river. 

The victory was quickly won ; and it was 
155 



Anthony Wayne 



complete and satisfactory. Sixty-three of 
the enemy had been killed, 543 taken prison- 
ers (of whom 70 were wounded), and one man 
escaped by swimming to the Vulture. The 
Americans lost 15 killed and 83 wounded, of 
whom nearly two-thirds belonged to the col- 
umn with Wayne. 

Wayne, as said, was one of the wounded, 
but his wound quickly healed, and he gave it 
no more notice than he had given to the slight 
touches he got (in one hand and one foot) at 
Germantown. The spoils at Stony Point 
amounted to 15 good cannon and some valu- 
able stores. 

Having made everything secure, Wayne, 
at two o'clock on the morning of the 16th, sent 
this despatch to Washington : 

" The fort and garrison with Col. Johnson 
are ours. 

" Our officers & men behaved like men who 
are determined to be free." 

And when daylight came he wrote this 
general order: 

"General Wayne returns his warmest 
thanks to the officers and soldiers for their 
coolness and intrepidity in the storm on the 
enemy's works at this place on the night of 
the 15th inst. 

156 



Stony Point 

"The perfect execution of orders and the 
superior gallantry exhibited on the occasion 
reflects the highest honor on the troops en- 
gaged." 

In its effects upon the war for independ- 
ence the capture of Stony Point was a stimu- 
lant only ; it carried the patient through a de- 
pressing period. The country had been dis- 
couraged because Washington had been 
obliged to act wholly on the defensive. The 
expeditions sent out by Clinton to ravage the 
Connecticut coast and the Chesapeake (when 
Norfolk was burned) had furnished the 
short-sighted with arguments for denouncing 
the army, and especially the Commander-in- 
Chief. But as the story of Stony Point 
spread over the land (though the post was 
soon abandoned), the populace became half 
wild with enthusiasm. 

Moreover, Wayne had demonstrated anew 
that when once the patriots had been trained 
as soldiers they could ''fight any upon the face 
of the earth," as Washington had declared 
with unmistakable emphasis. The victory 
also portrayed one other characteristic of the 
American soldier, as shall appear, and it 
brought the British back hastily from their 
brutal raid on the Connecticut coast. 
157 



Anthony Wayne 



Congress voted thanks to Wayne, Fleury, 
Steward, Gibbons, Knox, and a Mr. Henry W. 
Archer, who was present as a volunteer aid 
to Wayne. A gold medal was given to 
Wayne, and silver medals to Fleury and 
Steward, while Gibbons, Knox, and Archer 
were brevetted captains. 

Congress commended (July 26, 1779) 
Wayne "for his brave, prudent, and soldierly 
conduct in the spirited and well-conducted at- 
tack on Stony Point." They saw, though but 
dimly, what we can now see most clearly — 
that Wayne's preparations for the attack were 
of more importance than the "spirited " dash 
up the slope. Anybody with physical cour- 
age and enthusiasm — a French colonel, for in- 
stance — could lead in such a dash as well as 
Wayne, but the real ability of the man was 
seen when he trained his men; appealed to 
their pride by making them shave and pow- 
der their hair; watched them that no traitor 
should sneak from the ranks ; took them to the 
point of attack in ample time ; pointed out the 
reward of valor, and prescribed death for the 
coward ; made careful examination, and then, 
when fully prepared, took his place, spear in 
hand, and gave the word. 

Naturally Wayne was flooded with letters 
158 





2; 
o 

O 
El 

Q 

Q 

kJ 
O 
O 



Stony Point 



of congratulation, but it is better to tell here 
what Wayne did, rather than what people 
said of him. 

Nevertheless there is a special reason for 
quoting one extract from the letter of Dr. 
Benjamin Rush, the Congressman already 
quoted in another chapter. Rush was a poli- 
tician, but in spite of that, and in spite of the 
smoke and the glint of steel that blinded all 
others, as they read the story of Stony Point, 
he saw the one feature of that assault that 
is of all others most memorable. Writing on 
August 6th, he said: 

"You have estaUished the national character 
of our Country. You have taught our ene- 
mies, that bravery, humanity and magnanimity 
are the national virtues of the Americans." 

That is the exact truth, forcefully stated, 
and it is the most important statement made 
or to be made in connection with the assault 
upon Stony Point. In granting mercy as 
soon as the enemy begged for it, Wayne did 
just what Rush says he did. 

By the European standard of humanity 
in that day, and for many years afterward, it 
was entirely justifiable to massacre the gar- 
rison of a fort that was carried by assault. 
One might fill pages with the accounts of the 
159 



Anthony Wayne 



merciless deeds of Britisli soldiers in that 
war. But at the assault on Stony Point, An- 
thony Wayne — "Mad" Anthony, some called 
him — "established the national character of 
our countr}^," and "taught our enemies that 
bravery, humanity and magnanimity are the 
national virtues of the Americans." 

Wayne often declared that "it is in our 
power to produce a Conviction to the world 
that we deserve Success," and when his force, 
gathered from the length of the land, showed 
their humanity at Stony Point,* they did more 
to prove the truth of his words than was done 
in any battle during the whole course of the 
war. 

* Stony Point battle-field has now become State property, 
having recently been purchased from private owners. The ac- 
companying map shows in outline the State reservation. The 
custody of this property was at the time temporarily confided by 
the State to the American Scenic and Historic Preservation 
Society, and an appropriation was made for the building by the 
society of a landing-pier, the construction of roads, and for 
making other improvements necessary in order to render the 
reservation accessible to visitors. The celebration of the com- 
pletion of these improvements and a formal transfer of the 
property back to the State was made in July, 1902, on the anni- 
versary of the battle, when the Governors of New York and 
Pennsylvania and .several other distinguished persons were 
present, the attendance by people in general numbering several 
thousand. The Scenic Society published at the time an account 
of the battle and its scene, written by the secretary of the so- 
ciety, Mr. Edward Hagaman Hall. 

160 



Work A. "B 
Htroyed by the Ai 
U. S. LighthouH 

Work B. Ea 
magazine." 

Work C. " ( 
Elevation 130 fe 

Work D. 

Work E. 

Work F. 
feet. 

Work G. 

Work H. 
101 feet. 

Work I. 
feet. 

Work J. 

Work O. 

Work Q. 

Work R. 

Work B. 



O, 



% 



"C 
"C 

"C 

"( 

"O 



-^^ 






El( 
Ele 

EIq 
EH. 
E1( 



^,^- 



Two cor 



3. "Sixty of 
i. " The Gro 

5. "A Detao 

6. Approacii 
July 15-16, ITTDgTATE H 

7. American 
on British map. 

S. Major Mu 
center. 
9. Approach 



The fourteen wa 
ot the Surprise o 
American Army ci 
15th of July, 1779 
son, Lt. 17th Res 
Hills, Lt. 23d Rei 
SVm. Piide!!, Geo; 
They were locatei 
Preservation Soci^ 
the permission of I 
A. L. Mills, U. S^ 
Academy at West i 
James P. Jervey-^/^' 
ground, and may FT '' 
Works A to I. mV/ 
nn the British niy 
the British map \y 
the U. S. Eiigineej 
from the British nj 
The lini's of approl 
ferry guai-d, abatij 
Route 7 is uudoii 
evidence indicate;^ 
correct. 




// 



HUDS°' 



STONY POINT 



BATTLE FIELD. 



KKFEKENCES. 

Work A. " lluinsof a blockhouHc erected and dc- 
■troye<l V)y the A mericaiiH. " Site now occupied by the 
U. S. LighthouM- Elevation l.;<» feet. 

Work B. Earthwork near site of " a temporary 
magazine." 

Work C. "One 34 and one IH pr. ship guns." 
Eltvation 130 fnet. 



Work I). 
Work K 
Work F. 

f«.,a. 

Work a. 

Work H. 
101 ffit. 

Work [. 
feet 

Work J. 

Work ( ). 

Work y 

Work K. 

Work S. 

1. 



Ditto." Elevation VH) feet. 
"One iron V-i pr. " Elevation i:JO feet. 
" One M inch howitzer. " Elevation 120 

" One brasB 12 pr." Elevation 130 feet. 
"One Hhort braAH 12 pr." Elevation 

"One long brasH 12 pr." Elevation 115 

Elevation 140 feet, highest on the Point. 
Elevation 12.'i feet. 
Eloviition 1.5 fi'et. 
Elcviition 100 feet. 
Eh'vatioii r.'.'i feet. 

" Two conii)anieH of the 17th Re^t " 
3. '• Do." 

3. "Sixty of the Loyal Americans." 

4. " The nri'nadier comjianies of the ITth Ucgt." 

5. " A Detachment of the Roynl Artillery." 

0. Ap|iroach of Anicrican right column, night of 
July I'i It), 177'.t. 

7. Aim-rican riglit column aw erroneously shown 
CD Hrllmh inaj). 

K. Major Murfree'a approach to make feint in 
center. 

y. Approach of American left column. 



The fotirt«>ii \viirk« nbovo mcntloiie«l uppcnr on " A pUn 
of ilio Surpriw <if Stniiy Point l)y » Detnctinii'nt of iho 
Ainrrimn Army coinmaii(l>-<l by Hritir. (Jiml. Wnyne. on llii- 
IBth of Jiilv, 17TH. . . From tlio ►nrveyn of Wni. S1mii>- 
•on, U 17th lloirt.. nnd I). Ciimpbt'll, I.t. -1*1 lit.. l>y J<lin 
HilK r*f. *W lUv'i. unci Aiwt. KiikT. t...n(l..n. I'rint<-»t for 
Wm. Kiiil.'ii, (;<><>Krii|<h<'r to thr KinK. .March Int. 17M." 
Thoy were looitoil for iho American .>iccnic iinil lll-toric 
PrcMLTVntion So-ii-ty liv « ti>i'OBiB|ihical «iirvfy, mmlu with 
the iwrmiMlon of tho War Department, bv ilirrction of Col. 
A. L. MillK. U .S. A.. 8ii|H'rintcnilint of the U S. Military 
Acailcmy at \Vp»t Point. l)y a party "f i:iit;imfr!t nnilcr I.t. 
Jiimc* l*. JiTvcy. They are reailily noifnlral'li- ••<} the 

Knmnil, aii.l may l)e identirtcl by niean» of - ' ' 

Worlin A t.) I. incluiiivo, are lotteriil iilrntlo» 

•Ml tho Uritlah map. Work* J. <>. Q, K ai... 

tho llritlxh mail wlihoiit Int.Ts nnl hnve t>..!. 

the U .S Kni-in.M.r,. Kef. i. i;^ . - I . ■-'. '; I .i I '■ " ■ ' 

fr>tn the Hrlti.h Minp ..M will, h I'm ^ . •i;.!.- ' ■ ^ '• 

Tho linen i.f m.i.r.'arli li.r. II :ii:i«i. 17 - 
tarry Kuanl, abnti.. iiiul ,iii..t.iti.>ti-. .>•• 
Roilto 7 i» iin.liiubi. .Ily ■■ :i..i....i • I 
•Tiilenco luilii-jit. < thiu iMiM.~i'. "^ an.l '.' 

OOlTBCt. 




CHAPTER XVI 

THE "cow CHACE," THE TREASON OF ARNOLD, 
AND THE MUTINY OF THE PENNSYLVANIA 
LINE 

The light infantry remained under Wayne 
until the end of the year, when the corps was 
disbanded. Of all that was done and re- 
corded in connection with this corps after the 
assault on Stony Point, one fact only is mem- 
orable here. When, in December, the Virgin- 
ians under Colonel Febiger were detached by 
order of Congress and sent to their own 
State, Wayne was obliged to write : 

" Colonel Febiger will march to-morrow at 
8 A.M., but for leant of shoes he must carry a 
great many of his people in wagons." 

Congress would provide medals, but no 
shoes. 

The corps having been disbanded on De- 
cember 31st, Wayne went home to await or- 
ders, which he received in May (dated the 
18th), 1780, wherein Washington said: 

"I shall be very happy to see you at camp 
again, and hope you will, without hesitation, 
161 



Anthony Wayne 



resume your command in tlie Penn'a line." 
This summons, in spite of the fact that he was 
to have command of a brigade only, Wayne 
very gladly obeyed. The inefficient St. Clair 
still commanded the Pennsylvania Line. 

In July a small expedition was lalanned, 
with Wayne in command. He was to go down 
to the peninsula between the Hudson and the 
Hackensack rivers, gather up the cattle and 
forage there, on which the British were feed- 
ing, and at the same time make such an attack 
on a blockhouse filled with Tories behind 
Bergen Heights as would be likely to draw a 
considerable force of the British over from 
New York, for whom an effective ambush was 
prepared. 

"The lure," as Wayne wrote, "had liked 
to take the wished effect. Three thousand 
men, consisting of the flower of the British 
army, were embarked " after the attack was 
made on the blockhouse, and they "stood 
down the river hovering off the landing near 
fort Lee, where the 6th & 7th Penns'a Regi- 
ments lay concealed, with directions to let 
them land unmolested & then meet them in the 
Gorge of the Defile with the point of the 
bayonet." But the British failed to land, and 
after gathering in the cattle, Wayne marched 
162 



The *^Cow Chace" 

off, leaving the blockhouse in possession of 
the Tories. 

It was an incident of no consequence in 
the war, although it is said to have prevented 
a British raiding expedition to the Connecti- 
cut coast, but there is some interest attached 
to it here. The British officers, to cheer up 
the spirits of their men who were becoming 
gloomy because they had been cooped up for 
more than a year in New York, proclaimed 
the skirmish as a great victory for the Tories, 
while Major Andre wrote a long string of 
verses about it under the title of The Cow 
Chace. The verses appeared in the Royal 
Gazette, August 16, 1780, and were afterward 
printed in pamphlet form for distribution 
among the soldiers. A copy of the pamphlet, 
it is said, has been sold at auction for $750 
in recent years. This alone would make the 
incident notable among bibliomaniacs, but the 
verses themselves are memorable because of 
the view they give of the mental attitude of 
the British (and all Europe for that matter) 
toward the American patriots. 

The opening stanza read: 

To drive the Kine one summer's morn, 

The tanner took his way, 
The calf shall rue that is unborn 

The jumbling of that day. 
163 



Anthony Wayne 



Then in Canto III Andre describes the re^ 
turn of the Americans as a retreat, and says 
of the junction of two detachments : 

As when two kennels in the street, 

Swell'd with a recent rain, 
In gushing streams together meet, 

And seek the neighboring drain, 

So met these dung-born tribes in one, 

As swift in their career, 
And so to Newbridge they ran on — 

But all the cows got clear. 

To destroy the glory which Wayne had 
gained at Stony Point it was only necessary, 
by European standards, to mention the fact 
that he was a "tanner." Andre's contempt 
for the Americans emphasizes the European 
point of view. In Europe, birth in a caste 
gave eminence, and the family tree was every- 
thing. In America every capable member of 
one of those "dung-born tribes " could (and 
yet can) have his chance. And there is hope 
for England, and therefore for all Europe. 
A butcher has been knighted there, and he is 
in these days (1903) a close personal friend 
of the King; Even in England worth will yet 
outweigh birth. 

As the summer of 1780 wore away and 
nothing was done, the stupor that the long in- 
164 



The "Cow Chace" 

action of both armies generated in tlie minds 
of the American people seems to have af- 
fected Wayne even more seriously than the 
sufferings in the winter camps had done. How 
far his gloomy state of mind had carried him 
at one time we can see from a letter dated 
September 17, 1780, and written to President 
Reed, of Pennsylvania. He says : 

"I have fully & deliberately considered 
every possible vicissitude of fortune. I know 
that it is not in the power of the British to 
subjugate a mind determined to be free. 
Whilst I am master of my oicn sicord, I am gov- 
ernor of my own fate. I therefore only fear 
(but greatly fear) for that of my country." 
(Italics not in original.) 

No doubt a part of this gloom — perhaps a 
greater part — was due to the attitude of the 
officers of the Pennsylvania Line under him, 
when one William Macpherson was commis- 
sioned as a major by Congress. It was a 
promotion by political influence, and for no 
service rendered. And the worst of it was 
that he was to have, by order of Congress, a 
position in the light-infantry corps, where 
only men who had proved their prowess had a 
right to serve, and a wholesale resignation of 
officers was at one time (August 10th) ex- 
165 



Anthony Wayne 



pected in the Pennsylvania Line, in conse- 
quence of the act of Congress. 

Wayne and William Irvine (who had been 
made a brigadier) united in an appeal to 
these officers that was characteristic. It said : 

For God's sake be yourselves, and as a band of 
Brothers rise superior to every Injury, whether 
real or imaginary, at least for this campaign, which 
probably will produce a conviction to the AVorld, 
that America owes her freedom to the temporary 
sacrifice you now make. 

You will also reflect that this favor is solicited 
by men who would bleed to Death, drop by drop, 
to defend your honor. 

They knew the sincerity of those words. 
The most important feature in the character 
of Anthony Wayne is his entire and never- 
failing sincerity. They knew, too, that not 
one of them, nor all of them together, had 
more than a fraction of the cause of complaint 
of ill treatment that Wayne had, and the ap- 
peal was effective. 

Then came the treason of Arnold. It 
seems worth while, in a story of a life of un- 
selfish patriotism which this biography of An- 
thony Wayne gives, to say a word about the 
treason of Arnold by way of contrast. 
166 



Arnold's Treason 

The modern writers who have told the 
story of Arnold's heroic deeds, with a view 
of palliating his crime, have shown themselves 
utterly incapable of comprehending the 
events, and wholly unable to appreciate the 
true standard of American patriotism. In- 
stead of Arnold's heroism serving as pallia- 
tion for his treason, it does but consign him 
to the deeper damnation. Private soldiers 
by the hundred deserted to the enemy. Lieu- 
tenants and captains in a trivial host fol- 
lowed. Even Deane, our first envoy to 
France, became a traitor ; but all this was so 
quickly forgotten that only the students of 
history know the facts. Nor was it for the 
help he gave the British that Arnold is to be 
condemned. 

The utterly unforgivable feature of his 
crime is found in the fact that it was while 
standing before the people as a popular hero, 
and in a position to give inspiration to his 
countrymen of the most remote generation, he 
plunged into the depths. He rohhed iis of a 
hero. It is because of the brilliancy of his pre- 
vious career that in the world's list of men 
who have sold themselves into hell there is 
no name blacker than that of Benedict 
Arnold. 

167 



Anthony Wayne 



Consider now Arnold's crime. Recall, too, 
the long list of officers in the American army 
who, through pique or disappointment, re- 
signed their commissions. And with this in 
mind, remember that Anthony Wayne, the 
hero of the Brandywine, and of Germantown, 
and of Monmouth, and of Stony Point, and of 
Green Spring in Virginia, and of the cam- 
paign in Georgia — Anthony Wayne, who 
fought from the ice-bound North to the fever- 
laden swamps of the far South, served 
through all those campaigns without promo- 
tion, paid his own expenses for months at a 
stretch, gave freely of his private funds to 
buy clothing for his men, and never made even 
one complaint about his own ill treatment. 

It was on September 25th that Arnold's 
attempt to give West Point to the British was 
discovered. Wayne was at that time sta- 
tioned at Tappan (some distance below the 
modern Nyack), with his brigade (the First 
Pennsylvania), and General W^illiam Irvine, 
with the Second Pennsylvania Brigade, was 
with him. 

It is recorded that when Washington 
finally learned that Arnold was a traitor he 
said in a sad voice to Lafayette : 

"Whom can we trust now? " 
168 



Arnold's Treason 

But when lie came to answer his own ques- 
tion he turned as if by instinct to the Pennsyl- 
vania Line. 

The garrison at West Point had been 
scattered by Arnold, and Washington looked 
to see the British come up the river at any 
time to sweep the Americans by force from 
the Highlands. There was need of men who 
could come in haste, and who would fight at 
the word. A messenger was sent galloping 
down the trail to Tappan. He reached 
Wayne's tent at one o'clock in the morning, 
and soon the drums were beating the call to 
arms. The men of both brigades — Wayne's 
and Irvine's — sprang up, and with muskets 
in hand, formed in line. And when rations 
for the day had been secured, they marched 
away through the night. 

Most memorable was that dash for the 
Highlands. For the men had learned why 
they had been called. They believed that the 
safety of the nation depended on their exer- 
tions, and "in four hours in a dark night, with- 
out a single halt or a man left behind," they 
covered 16 miles, and reached the mouth 
of the pass that led from the Haverstraw 
landing through the mountains to West Point. 
They stopped at "Smith's white house," that 
12 169 



Anthony Wayne 



stood between the main branches of Haver- 
straw Creek. 

With honest pride Wayne wrote to his 
friend Hugh Sheel (October 2, 1780) to say: 
"When our approach was announced to the 
General he thought it fabulous, but when 
convinced of the reality he received us 
like a God, and retiring to take a short re- 
pose, exclaimed, 'All is safe and I again am 
happy !' " 

" The protection of that important place " 
[West Point], Wayne adds, "is committed to 
my conduct until a proper garrison arrives. 
I shall not throw myself into the works, but 
will dispute the approaches inch hy inch and at 
the point of the bayonet — decide the fate of 
the day in the Gorge of the Defiles at every 
expense of blood. ... It is not in our power 
to Command Success, but it is in our power 
to produce a Conviction to the world that we 
deserve it." 

At the end of the year Wayne had to face 
an experience that was far more trying than 
a battle with any enemy — an experience that 
gave him, in fact, more anxiety than any 
event in his whole military career. This 
trouble was nothing less than the mutiny of 
the Pennsylvania Line. 
170 



Mutiny in Camp 

The trouble grew out of the destitution of 
the men in their winter quarters as a chief 
cause, but it was complicated by one other 
reason for indignation. The men, as a body, 
had enlisted for "three years or during the 
war." As they understood the contract, it 
meant that they were to be discharged at the 
end of the war if that end came within three 
years. In any event, however, they were to 
be discharged at the end of three years. The 
three years for which they had enlisted ex- 
pired at the end of December, 1780, but as the 
time drew near they learned that it was the 
intention of Congress to hold them "during 
the war." 

If the men had been comfortably clothed 
and sheltered, and abundantly supplied with 
food, there would have been no mutiny under 
this false interpretation of the contract, but 
under the conditions of neglect that then pre- 
vailed, and had prevailed from the first, the 
able fighting men of the Pennsylvania Line 
refused to submit. 

A brief consideration of what the condi- 
tions were, as portrayed in Wayne's letters, 
will be of interest. On October 17th he wrote 
from the winter quarters near Morristown, 
N. J., to President Reed, of Pennsylvania, to 
171 



Anthony Wayne 



ask for "blankets and winter clothing," and 
said ; 

"We have adopted the idea of curtailing 
the coats to repair the elbows and other de- 
fective parts, for which we shall immediately 
want needle and thread." 

On October 25th he writes again to say 
that the thread and needles had not arrived, 
and that "every day adds to our distress and 
renders an immediate supply of these arti- 
cles indispensably necessary." He adds : 

"When the charge of the Pennsylvania di- 
vision devolved on me I thought of an expedi- 
ent of reducing the heterogeneity of new, old, 
cocked, and slouched hats to infantry caps; 
in which we succeeded very well by making 
three decent caps out of one tolerable and 
two very ordinary hats. . . . We shall now 
try the experiment of making three short 
coats out of three old, tattered long ones. I 
must acknowledge that they would suit much 
better for the spring than fall, but without 
something done in this way we shall be naked 
in the course of two or three weeks ; nor will 
even this expedient answer longer than 
Christmas. For God's sake use every possi- 
ble means to procure clothing for both offi- 
cers and men by that time at farthest." 
172 



Mutiny in Camp 

Reed replied "I am much concerned," and 
"Turner shall have orders to send the needles 
and thread required." 

On November 7th Wayne says emphat- 
ically, "We never stood upon such perilous 
ground as at present." Reed replied that 
"money matters lay entirely with the Assem- 
bly," and that "many new members have come 
into the House with expectations to lower 
taxes, not to increase them." 

On December 16th Wayne advises Reed 
that "we are reduced to Dry bread and beef 
with cold water for sustenance," that of pay, 
trifling as the value of Continental currency 
then was, the soldiers "had not seen a single 
dollar for nearly twelve months." Reed re- 
plied that "in the exhausted condition of the 
treasury it will be difficult to keep up the sup- 
ply of stores." 

Even the supply of "dry bread and beef " 
grew scanty. The clothing went to pieces, as 
Wayne had predicted. Half starved and 
half naked, the men became desperate, and 
when, on January 1, 1781, they found that 
nothing had been done toward paying them 
off and discharging them from the service, 
they arose with arms in hand, as one man, 
between eight and nine o'clock at night, 
173 



Anthony Wayne 



seized the camp, shot down three of the offi- 
cers who strove with naked swords to force 
them into submission, and finally, after scour- 
ing the grand parade with round and grape 
shot from four field-pieces, they formed in a 
solid column, 1,300 strong, and marched 
away. 

John Adams, in a burst of indignation, 
after St. Clair's flight from Ticonderoga had 
said : "We shall never be able to defend a post 
till we shoot a general." These mutineers 
might have said with greater justice: "We 
shall never be able to maintain the Nation till 
we shoot a few politicians " ; and if they had 
said it, their sentiment would have found sym- 
pathy in many breasts even to this day. 

Wayne and his officers supposed that when 
the men marched from the camp on the 
heights of Morristown (where they had been 
hutted at some distance from other troops) 
that they might march to Elizabethtown to 
join the British. In this the men were greatly 
wronged. They were headed toward Phila- 
delphia to argue with Congress as a Crom- 
well might have done it. On learning their in- 
tention, Wayne, with General Richard Butler 
and Colonel Walter Stewart, followed the 
mutineers and remained with them until the 
174 



Mutiny in Camp 

trouble was settled. Under tlie influence of 
these officers the men elected leaders from 
among their sergeants, maintained " an aston- 
ishing regularity and discipline," confined 
and eventually hanged two emissaries sent 
among them by the British to lead them to 
New York, and finally came to an agreement 
with President Reed, of Pennsylvania, by 
which those entitled to it were discharged, 
auditors were appointed to pay off all the 
men, some clothing was provided, and a gen- 
eral amnesty and oblivion proclaimed. In all 
the negotiations Wayne was implicitly trusted 
by the revolted men and the civil authorities 
alike. 

At the beginning of the revolt the men 
had said to Wayne, while they held their 
bayonets at his breast, "We love you, we re- 
spect you." And when the wrongs of the men 
had been righted nearly two-thirds of them 
reenlisted. 

Neither Congress nor the Pennsylvania 
Assembly had been able to find any way to 
relieve the men before the revolt, but when 
the two bodies of politicians learned that a 
column of determined men, 1,300 strong, was 
on the way to Philadelphia to ask questions 
at the point of the bayonet, means for sup- 
175 



Anthony Wayne 



plying the unfortunate troops were quickly 
discovered. 

It seems worth while pointing out that this 
revolt was an exercise of what in this day is 
called lynch law. It is a shocking fact, but 
one worth the most serious consideration of 
every patriot, that at intervals throughout the 
entire history of the nation, bodies of sober- 
minded men have felt obliged to openly vio- 
late statute law in order to obtain natural 
rights and do justice. This statement is not 
made to defend any form of lynch law, but 
to point out a fact that has not received suffi- 
cient consideration. 



176 



CHAPTER XVII 

WAYNE IN VIRGINIA 

In the spring of 1780 Anthony Wayne was 
ordered to go South with a detachment of the 
Pennsylvania Line, 800 strong, and join Gen- 
eral Nathanael Greene, who was then com- 
manding the Southern Department and en- 
gaged in the work that eventually drove 
Cornwallis to Yorktown. York, Pa., was 
the rendezvous of the force, and when 
Wayne arrived he found there "scarcely a 
horse or a carriage fit to transport any part " 
of the baggage, and what was still worse, "the 
troops were retarded in advancing to the gen- 
eral rendezvous by the unaccountable delay 
of the auditors, appointed to settle and pay 
the proportion of the depreciation due the 
men." The quotations are from Wayne's 
correspondence. 

At the time of the mutiny of the Pennsyl- 
vania Line, as recounted in the last chapter, 
the frightened Legislature had promised to 
pay the Pennsylvania soldiers in full for all 
dues, and they kept their promise by running 
177 



Anthony Wayne 

a printing-press and issuing paper dollars 
''not equal to one-seventh of" their nominal 
value, which they compelled the soldiers to 
take at par. "This was an alarming circum- 
stance," wrote Wayne from York (May 20, 
1781). "The soldiery but too sensibly felt 
the imposition." They also remembered their 
success in the previous mutiny, and on May 
19th (the day before the one set for the de- 
parture), while in line on the parade, a num- 
ber of ringleaders on the right of each regi- 
ment began to demand in a loud voice that 
they be paid "in real and not ideal money," 
and that they were "no longer to be trifled 
with." 

"Upon this they were ordered to their 
tents, which being peremptorily refused, the 
principals were immediately knocked down," 
and confined by the officers, who had learned 
that trouble was coming. They were then 
court-martialed, the guilty were condemned, 
and two of them were hanged, the other guilty 
ones being compelled to serve as executioners. 

"Thus was this hideous monster" of mu- 
tiny "crushed in its birth," says Wayne. It 
was a most pitiful if absolutely necessaiy exe- 
cution, and the memory of it is the more piti- 
ful from the fact that no way could be found 
178 



Wayne in Virginia 

for hanging the members of the Legislature 
who were the real criminals. 

Wayne left York with 800 men on May 
20th, and on June 7th he joined Lafayette, 
who was in command of the American forces 
in Virginia. Cornwallis had abandoned 
North Carolina, and had marched into Vir- 
ginia, where, at Petersburg, he was joined on 
May 20th by reenforcements under General 
Phillips, bringing his forces up to 5,000 men 
— all veterans and well equipped. 

Lafayette, having but 3,000 men, includ- 
ing raw militia, was driven north, and was 
found at Fredericksburg on June 7th, when 
Wayne joined him. Other additions brought 
Lafayette's force up to 4,000, and Cornwallis, 
though still much stronger, felt obliged to 
march out of a hostile country and down to 
navigable water in order to draw supplies 
from the British fleet. 

On June 20th he left Richmond, marching 
east, crossed the Chickahominy, and then on 
down (to the southeast) along the peninsula 
between the James and the York Rivers as 
far as Williamsburg. 

In the meantime further reenforcements 
had raised Lafayette's force to 6,000 men, 
and he therefore followed the enemy closely 
179, 



Anthony Wayne 

into the peninsula, though he did not dare to 
risk an open-field engagement. 

As usual under such circumstances, 
Wayne had command at the head of the col- 
umn, while Lafayette was following the Brit- 
ish down the peninsula, and thus found an 
opportunity for the display of the genius that 
has made him memorable. When Cornwallis 
had reached Williamsburg (on the north side 
of James River), word was brought to the 
American camp (July 6, 1781) that the Brit- 
ish were crossing to the south side of the 
James at Green Spring, on their way to 
Portsmouth, Va. 

At this Wayne was ordered forward with 
his 800 Pennsylvanians to reconnoiter, and, if 
possible, to attack the rear-guard of the 
enemy after the main body had crossed the 
river. On approaching Green Spring Wayne 
had to cross a swamp by means of a causeway 
(dirt and corduroy road), and he was advan- 
cing into the fields beyond the swamp, when 
he discovered instead of the rear-guard of 
the British, the whole British army there, and 
that they were drawn up in line of battle. 

Wayne had 800 men; the British army 
numbered 5,000. In crossing the causeway 
Wayne had entered the best trap he had ever 
180 



Wayne in Virginia 

seen. But with the pluck that he had dis- 
played when with 20 men in the edge of the 
swamp at Three Rivers he held the army of 
Burgoyne at bay, he now ordered forward his 
riflemen — men selected for their skill as 
marksmen — and they opened "a galling fire," 
while a messenger was sent in hot haste for 
the whole American army (then five miles 
away) to come up and join in. It was 
Wayne's determination to force a general en- 
gagement then and there to end the campaign. 

But while the riflemen were doing their 
whole duty the British recognized that the 
number of the men firing was small, and be- 
gan to advance. Instantly Wayne ordered 
forward two detachments to support the rifle- 
men, but in vain, for the British army of 5,000 
veterans was coming. The utter destruction 
of the whole American force was at hand, 
when Wayne, with the spirit of the god of 
battles surging in his breast, formed his men 
with bayonets fixed, and charged the enemy. 

With 800 men he charged 5,000, and Corn- 
wallis, unable to suppose that such a dash 
could be made unless the whole American 
army was supporting it, halted his veterans 
and allowed Wayne to retreat in perfect 
order. 

181 



CHAPTER XVIII 

WHEN WAYNE RECOVERED GEORGIA 

They called Wayne "Mad Anthony." The 
origin of the nickname is interesting. So is 
the fact that it is well remembered to this day 
— remembered better than the deeds of the 
man. Among Wayne's Pennsylvanians was 
an Irishman who feigned insanity; who was, 
perhaps, somewhat out of the usual run men- 
tally; who was most useful to Wayne as a 
spy ; and who had, withal, the bad habit of get- 
ting drunk and making serious disturbances 
in camp. He was known as "Jemy the 
Rover," and also as "the Commodore." 

One day while at work at York preceding 
the Virginia campaign "Jemy " was sent to 
the guard-house for disorderly conduct. 
When on the way he asked by whose orders 
he was to be confined. The sergeant in charge 
said, "By the general's." "Then forward," 
said Jemy, and he was put in the guard-house. 

A few hours later, when released, he asked 
the sergeant whether the general was "mad 
182 



when Wayne Recovered Georgia 

or in fun " when he issued the order. The 
sergeant replied : 

"The general has been very much dis- 
pleased with your disorderly conduct; and a 
repetition of it will be followed not only by 
confinement, but by twenty-nine well laid on." 

"Then," said Jemy, "Anthony is mad. 
Farewell to you. Clear the coast for the 
Commodore, mad Anthony's friend." 

He left the camp, as he was allowed to do 
at will, and there is a letter remaining in 
which Wayne wrote home to say that if this 
"Commodore " should come that way he was 
to be treated with kindness and his wants 
supplied. 

Naturally the last words of the Irishman 
as he left the camp amused the sergeant. 
"Mad Anthony's friend," indeed! The story 
spread around the camp, and thence to other 
camps. 

There were officers in the army to whom 
Wayne's splendid work was a constant re- 
proach. They had neither the ability nor the 
courage to emulate him. But they could 
sneeringly use the appellation "Mad An- 
thony," and they did it. To the men who 
(like Gates and St. Clair) had been trained 
in a foreign service (always excepting the 
183 



Anthony Wayne 

noble-hearted German Steuben) this sneer 
was a godsend, and to what extent it pre- 
vailed shall appear. But in the meantime 
the nickname had been taken up by the public, 
and the people applied, and still apply, it as 
an appellation of praise. For the American 
people are hero worshipers, every one, thank 
God! for only heroes can appreciate a hero. 

Having demonstrated at Green Spring 
once more that the best way to defend oneself 
is to attack the enemy, Wayne remained with 
the army until Cornwallis was hedged in, 
Washington arrived, the French came also, 
and the whole British army was compelled to 
surrender (October 19, 1781). But in the 
final work of capturing Cornwallis Wayne 
had only a small part. 

When it was thought that Cornwallis 
might try to escape to North Carolina, Wayne 
was sent to a post between Portsmouth and 
Petersburg to wait his coming and head him 
off. When Cornwallis was finally surrounded 
at Yorktown, Wayne was ordered to the 
American camp. On September 2d, while go- 
ing to Lafayette's camp with other ofiicers, a 
sentry mistook the party for the enemy and 
fired at them. The bullet pierced Wayne's 
leg. The wound laid him up for two weeks, 
184 



When Wayne Recovered Georgia 

at a time when he was most anxious for active 
work, but his letters on the occasion show that 
he felt a real pity for the sentry. He was 
sorry that the man had suffered the pain of 
supposing himself attacked by a party of 
mounted men from the enemy. 

When first ordered South Wayne had been 
directed to join Greene. The advance of 
Cornwallis into Virginia had compelled him 
to join Lafayette instead, and Greene was 
left to fight out his campaign with Lord Raw- 
don. There was good fighting on both sides, 
but at Eutaw Springs (September 8, 1781), 
Greene obtained a decisive strategic advan- 
tage, and "the British were cooped up in 
Charlestown till the end of the war." 

Work remained to be done in the South, 
however, after the British retreated to 
Charleston. Georgia was yet overrun by 
the British, and Wayne, after going to Greene 
with reenforcements, was sent (January 10, 
1782) with a small detachment to redeem the 
State. 

The conditions in Georgia at this time may 
be inferred from Greene's letter of instruc- 
tions to Wayne. "Try, by every means, to 
soften the malignity and deadly resentments 
subsisting between whigs and tories," says 
13 185 



Anthony Wayne 



Greene, "and to put a stop, as much as possi- 
ble, to the cruel custom of putting people to 
death after surrender." 

"The British soldiers, most of whom were 
imported loyalists from the North, or German 
hirelings, ravaged the country with merciless 
vigor," says Stevens, while "the savages 
[chiefly Creeks] had laid waste nearly all 
the frontier settlements, and often penetrated 
into the older districts with the torch and the 
scalping-knife." 

Wayne, with his command, crossed Sisters 
Ferry, on the Savannah River, on January 
12, 1782, using canoes for the men, swimming 
the horses, and leaving behind his cannon for 
want of adequate boats to carry them across. 
Having then joined such forces as the patri- 
ots were able to keep in the field, Wayne 
found under his command (Stille, pp. 287, 
288) Moylan's dragoons, 100; a detachment 
from Sumpter's brigade, 300 strong, under 
Colonel Wade Hampton; volunteers under 
Colonel James Jackson, 170; a total of 570, 
besides the artillery (less than 100 men), 
which he eventually brought over the river. 
To these were added various bodies of raw 
militia, amounting in all to nothing of any 
consequence when their help was most needed. 
186 



when Wayne Recovered Georgia 

To oppose him there were, throughout the 
State, 1,300 British regulars, 500 well-organ- 
ized and well-armed Tories, with an un- 
counted number of Tory refugees, the whole 
under Sir Arnold Clarke, whose headquar- 
ters were at Savannah. In addition to these 
white enemies must be counted the Creek and 
Cherokee Indians, who could and did bring 
several hundred warriors into the field. On 
the whole, Wayne was outnumbered at all 
times in the proportion of at least three to 
one, and now and then five to one. With 
such a disparity of forces as this, Wayne un- 
dertook the work of driving the British from 
Georgia. 

After entering the State Wayne estab- 
lished himself at Ebenezer, 25 miles up the 
Savannah River from Savannah, and then 
stretched a line of posts from that point 
southwesterly to the Ogeechee River, in order 
to cut the British line of communication with 
the Indians of the interior, and to stop, as well, 
the flow of supplies to the city. That is to 
say, he undertook, in spite of his inferiority 
in numbers, to isolate the British force in Sa- 
vannah and hold the city in a state of siege. 

In the meantime, after consultation with 
the Legislature of Georgia, then in session at 
187 



Anthony Wayne 



Augusta, Wayne issued two proclamations, 
one of which offered pardon and protection to 
Tories who would join the patriots, and one 
that was calculated to make the Hessians de- 
sert. Both proclamations had a good effect. 
At the same time efforts were made to detach 
the Indians from the British service — a work 
that might well have seemed hopeless when 
the ability of the British to provide them with 
presents was considered on the one hand, and 
the poverty of the Americans on the other. 
But Wayne was the man for the occasion. 
While near the Ogeechee (February 19, 
1782) he learned that a considerable number 
of Creek chiefs were coming down the river 
trail on their way to Savannah. Dressing a 
sufficient number of his men in British uni- 
forms, Wayne sent them as if they were a 
guard of honor to meet the chiefs and to 
escort them into his own camp. By this 
stratagem the chiefs were captured and 
brought in without bloodshed. Wayne then 
made them a speech wherein he pointed out 
the failure of the British to subdue the Amer- 
icans, and then sent them home with a request 
that all the Indians remain neutral. At the 
same time a party of Tory traders and In- 
dians, who WQre coming in with 93 horses 
188 



when Wayne Recovered Georgia 

loaded with furs, were captured and the goods 
confiscated. 

The energy and activity of Wayne in these 
days is apparent from a letter dated Febru- 
ary 24th, in which he says : "It is now upward 
of five weeks since we entered this State, 
"during which period not an officer or soldier 
with me has once undressed, excepting for the 
purpose of changing his linen, nor do the en- 
emy lay on beds of down." 

On May 21, 1782, Wayne learned that 
1,000 British soldiers were leaving the city 
under Colonel Brown to meet and escort in a 
band of Creeks numbering several hundred. 
With 300 infantry under Colonel Posey, of 
Virginia, and 100 dragoons, Wayne started 
out to meet the two bodies, one at a time, be- 
fore they could unite. While on the way, late 
in the afternoon, trustworthy information was 
brought that the enemy were to be found on 
the Ogeechee road, seven miles southwest of 
Savannah. Wayne was then six miles north- 
westerly from Savannah, and the only way to 
reach the enemy was to march four miles 
through a swamp. And he had to consider 
not only the danger of a night march through 
a tangled swamp, but the further fact that on 
reaching the Ogeechee road, he would find 
189 



p. 



Anthony Wayne 

himself between Colonel Brown's superior 
force and the garrison of the city defenses. 

Nevertheless, having "the conviction that 
the success of a nocturnal attack depended 
more upon prowess than numbers," and hav- 
ing also confidence in /'the steady bravery of 
the troops," AYayfie- Wd the way into the 
swamp. At midnight, as the vanguard, with ^"^ C 
^SaySe still in the lead, struggled from the 
swamp into the Ogeechee road, they saw the 
whole sortie force of the enemy, 1,000 strong, 
coming toward them "in close and good or- 
der." Their number was at that moment 
greater than Wayne's by more than five to 
one, for the main body of Wayne's force was 
too far away in the swamp to be of any aid. 

Nevertheless, Wayne instantly ordered 
.uch men as he had with him to charge, and 
they "obeyed with such vivacity" that they 
scattered the whole British force — cavalry, 
infantry, Hessians, and Tories — and drove 
them into the swamp. Colonel Brown did not 
escape from the swamp and arrive in Savan- 
nah until the 23d. 

And on the 23d Wayne, with his little 
band, "advanced in view of Savannah, send- 
ing a few infantry and horse to draw the en- 
emy out ; but they declined an interview." 
190 



when Wayne Recovered Georgia 

As the reader has already observed, most 
of Wayne's fighting was done after the man- 
ner of this charge, in the night. But on 
June 24th, Wayne and his force had to face 
a night attack like that at Paoli. Wayne 
was then in camp at Sharon, five miles 
from Savannah. At one o'clock in the morn- 
ing, while the greater part of the men were 
asleep, a large body of Indians, headed by 
Guristersijo and other chiefs, with a British 
officer to help, charged the camp. The as- 
sault was so impetuous that a company of 
light infantry, posted to protect two field- 
pieces, were swept back, and the guns were 
captured. But within a few minutes the 
whole American force was up, and with 
Wayne in the lead, sword in hand, they 
charged back at the red men. As on the field 
of Monmouth, Wayne now had an enemy 
worthy of his steel. " The bravery of the In- 
dians fighting hand to hand gave an opening 
for the free use of the sword and bayonet." 
One of the chiefs (Guristersijo himself, very 
likely, for he was killed in the fight) singled 
out Wayne for a personal combat, and got it. 
Wayne cut him down, but as he lay on the 
ground dying he drew a pistol and fired it, 
killing Wayne's horse. The convulsive move- 
191 



Anthony Wayne 



ment of the Indian's muscles when in the 
clutch of death prevented better aim. 

The Indians were routed. At daylight 
the British garrison came out to take a hand 
in the battle, but they arrived too late. The 
Indians were so scattered that they could not 
be rallied, and Wayne turned on the British 
with such impetuosity that they were glad to 
find shelter behind their works. 

This fight, with those that preceded it, de- 
cided the fate of Savannah. The enemy were 
so disheartened that they remained cooped 
within the city and wholly dependent on the 
shipping for supplies, and on July 11, 1782, 
they abandoned the city to Wayne. 

The Legislature of Georgia, though the 
State was reduced to extreme poverty, voted 
3,900 guineas, with which a rice plantation 
was purchased and presented to Wayne as a 
token of gratitude of the people of the State. 

The end of the war was now at hand. 
Wayne was ordered to join Greene after Sa- 
vannah fell. He had contracted a malarious 
fever while fighting in the swamps of Georgia, 
but he was able to ride into Charleston at the 
head of the column on December 14, 1782, 
when the Americans took possession. 

During the winter of 1782-83 Wayne ne- 
192 



when Wayne Recovered Georgia 

gotiated treaties of peace with the Creeks and 
Cherokees, and thus completed the work that 
he had begun with the sword. 

In June, 1783, all of the soldiers of the 
American army received six months furlough, 
and in December they were finally discharged. 
They were paid off with bills of the nominal 
value of 20 shillings each, and the soldiers 
were compelled to take them at par, although 
worth but one-tenth of their face value. The 
American people in those days trembled with 
fear whenever they thought of a government 
strong enough to support itself, but there 
was no quiver among any of them (save 
among the victims) when the government, 
through weakness, broke faith with the men 
who had made and saved the nation. 

On October 10, 1783, when the war was 
ended. Congress gave Wayne the rank of 
major-general by brevet "on the recommenda- 
tion of the Executive Council of Pennsylva- 
nia." In the annals of the United States 
there is no other case to match that of the fail- 
ure to promote Anthony Wayne to the full 
rank of a major-general during the course of 
the war. The explanation of the failure, how- 
ever, is simple enough. "To avoid exciting 
jealousy on the part of the States which fur- 
193 



Anthony Wayne 



nished most men " for the Continental army, 
Congress had early adopted the rule by which 
each State was to have generals in proportion 
to the number of men it sent into the field. 
Pennsylvania really had in the field enough 
men to entitle her to three major-generals, but 
a part of them were so dispersed in frontier 
garrisons that they could not be organized 
into brigades, and so her right to more than 
two was ignored. One of the two commis- 
sions to which her title was recognized was 
given to Mifflin, a man of political influence. 
The other was given to St. Clair, whose 
claim rested on his previous experience in 
the king's service and his political influence. 
Had a third commission been allowed to 
Pennsylvania Wayne would have received it, 
but in order to prevent sectional jealousy he 
was ignored. If he felt the slight he never, 
either directly or indirectly, said so. And 
because he gave his very best services to his 
country throughout the war without com- 
plaining, it is but fair to say that he did his 
work not from a hope of any kind of reward 
or praise, but solely because of his love of 
country and his sense of duty. 



194 



CHAPTER XIX 

BETWEEN TWO WARS 

Of Wayne's doings in civil life in the 
years following the War of the Revolution 
few words will suffice. When able to attend 
to his private affairs he turned his attention 
to the estate that Georgia had given him. It 
contained 830 acres, and its former owner had 
obtained from 800 to 1,000 barrels of rice, 
worth from 2,400 to 3,000 guineas a year, 
from it. The estate, however, was wholly 
without stock, and it could be worked only 
with the aid of slaves. Wayne did not have 
the cash capital needed, and the American 
people were so poor that he could not borrow 
it at home, even by pledging his Chester 
County estate as well as the other one for 
security. 

While casting about for money Wayne 
was told that he could get it in Holland, and 
the information was given in such definite 
form that he drew on Holland capitalists for 
4,000 guineas. The bills were discounted 
195 



Anthony Wayne 



and cashed in Philadelpliia, and with the 
money Wayne went to work on the estate. 
But when the bills reached Holland the capi- 
talists refused to accept them, and they came 
back protested. 

"It is physically impossible for a well- 
educated, intellectual, or brave man to make 
money the chief object of his thoughts," said 
one great writer whom some critics do not ad- 
mire. Wayne, with his frank, open-hearted 
ways, could not compete with the money- 
makers in a period of our commercial history 
when it was possible for a successful scoun- 
drel to openly boast of thievish cunning with- 
out losing caste among business men. But 
Wayne could be and was honest. He sacri- 
ficed his Georgia estate, took up the protested 
bills, and saved his Chester County property. 

In the meantime he had given his time to 
his State. In the constitution of Pennsylva- 
nia, adopted in 1776 — the constitution that 
had given the stay-at-home patriots more con- 
cern than the sufferings of the American 
army had done — it was provided that a body 
of men should be elected once in seven years 
to review the work of the various branches of 
the State government during the seven-year 
period, to determine whether the government 
196 



Between Two Wars 

had been well conducted or not, and make re- 
port of their findings to the people. Wayne 
was chosen a member of this board of censors 
late in 1783. In this work Wayne is memo- 
rable because he showed he was anxious that 
"measures of conciliation should be adopted 
now that peace was restored." 

In 1784, as a member of the Assembly, 
Wayne also worked actively to get repealed 
certain war measures that had been aimed at 
people who neglected or refused to take cer- 
tain prescribed test oaths. The war meas- 
ures bore heavily on the Quakers (the most 
praiseworthy class of people in the State, all 
things considered), but he worked in vain. 
The contest was continued, however, and in 
1789 good sense triumphed over the hatreds 
engendered by war. 

In 1787 Wayne was a member of the Penn- 
sylvania convention that ratified the Consti- 
tution of the United States. 

In 1790, although it was then plain that he 
would have to sacrifice his Georgia estate, 
and give up all hope of spending a part of his 
time in that State, as he had intended to do, a 
large number of his friends there determined 
that "he was, in his legal relation, a citizen," 
and that he should represent them in Con- 
197 



Anthony Wayne 



gress. Accordingly, he was returned as 
elected on January 3, 1791, but when his op- 
ponent in the election contested the result, the 
House investigated the matter, and on March 
16, 1792, "Resolved, That Anthony Wayne 
was not duly elected a Member of this 
House." 

Wayne was unseated, but it was admitted 
and declared on all sides that Wayne himself 
had had neither part in nor knowledge of any 
of the irregularities that had led to his return, 
and that his character "stood pure and un- 
sullied as a soldier's ought to be." 

It appears now that when Wayne learned 
that he was not entitled to a seat in Congress, 
he was somewhat — perhaps not a little — cha- 
grined. If this be so, his experience was, in 
a way, but a repetition of that which gave him 
chagrin when General St. Clair relieved him as 
the commander of the Pennsylvania Line. He 
was deprived of work which he hoped to do, 
but because he was thus deprived, a new way 
was opened for him to add to his renown. By 
losing the command of the Pennsylvania Line 
he had obtained command of the light infan- 
try, and had captured Stony Point. And 
through losing the seat in Congress to which 
he had supposed himself entitled, he was 
198 



Between Two Wars 

placed in command of the American regular 
army and sent to the West. The campaign in 
Ohio — the crowning work of his life — the 
work that was to give peace to the frontier 
and loosen the British grip upon the North- 
west, was at hand. 



199 



CHAPTER XX 

THE WAR ON THE FRONTIER 

Strictly speaking, the war that called 
Anthony Wayne to the frontier was a pro- 
longation of the War of the Revolution. 
Though the treaty of peace made with Eng- 
land had been written in a kindly spirit, it had 
not been carried out in kindly fashion. Urged 
on by the Canadian fur buyers chiefly, who 
saw an immense trade slipping from their 
grasp, the British officials had refused to 
evacuate Detroit and the other posts in the 
American territory northwest of the Ohio. 
The British could no longer claim territory to 
the south of the Great Lakes, but they per- 
suaded the Indians to claim and to fight for 
these broad lands, and there is no doubt that 
the British hoped to acquire the territory in 
due time. 

Immediately^after the close of the Revolu- 
tion the frontiersmen began to seek home sites 
in this Northwest territory, and by the ordi- 
nance of Congress, dated July 13, 1787 (a 
200 




ARTHUR ST. CLAIR. 



The War on the Frontier 

famous document in the history of the Amer- 
ican people), the territory was organized with 
General Arthur St. Clair as Governor. 

St. Clair reached Marietta, Ohio, the first 
town laid out in the territory, on July 9, 1788, 
and on the 20th "the machinery of govern- 
ment" was set in motion. 

As a first duty St. Clair endeavored to buy 
the Indian title to all the land of the territory 
south of the forty-first parallel of latitude. 
For, while the United States claimed the fee 
of and the sovereignty over the land, the In- 
dian right of occupancy was recognized, and 
it was tliis right that St. Clair tried to buy. 

In January, 1789, St. Clair made two dif- 
ferent treaties with small bands of Indians, 
but the red signers of the treaties had no au- 
thority to bind their tribes, and the treaties 
served merely to strengthen the British posi- 
tion. For the British, who urgently opposed 
any cession of land to the Americans, were 
able to point to the treaties as proofs that the 
Americans purposed evicting all the red men 
from the region northwest of the Ohio, 

As a matter of fact, there were Indians on 
the war-path while these Indians who negoti- 
ated the treaty were accepting presents from 
St. Clair. In every month since the Revolu- 
14 201 



Anthony Wayne 



tion Indian raiders in greater or less num- 
bers had prowled around the white settle- 
ments or haunted the banks of the Ohio to 
attack home seekers floating down in flatboats 
to the promised land. 

The settlements that were guarded by 
Fort Harmer, at Marietta, and by Fort 
Washington, at Cincinnati, escaped assault, 
but the smaller and unguarded settlements 
were raided whenever the weather permitted 
the Indians to go from their villages comfort- 
ably. It is said that in the seven years 
between 1783 and 1790 no less than 1,500 
home makers were killed in Kentucky alone, 
not to mention the devastation in Virginia 
and western Pennsylvania. 

Eventually the outcries and protests of 
the frontiersmen compelled the National Gov- 
ernment (Washington had been inaugurated 
President on March 4, 1789), to send an expe- 
dition into the Indian country to compel them 
to keep the peace. General Josiah Harmer 
was placed in command of a body of men that 
included 320 Federal troops and 1,453 militia, 
with three brass field-pieces. 

Harmer's expedition marched to the In- 
dian villages that stood where Fort Wayne, 
Ind., now stands, and burned them (October 
202 



The War on the Frontier 

17, 1790). But in such fighting as was done 
the white men were beaten, with a loss of 103 
killed and 111 wounded. 

Naturally the Indians were incited to fur- 
ther aggressions rather than subdued by such 
work, and another expedition to chastise them 
was necessarily organized. General St. Clair 
himself took command. But St. Clair was 
sick during nearly all the time he was in com- 
mand. His army was made up of raw re- 
cruits of a worthless character chiefly, and 
they were enlisted for six months only, for 
Congress was in deadly fear lest a standing 
army of American citizens overthrow the re- 
public. 

On November 3, 1791, St. Clair, with an 
army that numbered 1,400 men under arms, 
encamped where Recovery, Mercer County, 
Ohio, now stands, and at daylight the next 
morning a red host swept the camp as a tor- 
nado sweeps away an unsheltered village of 
the plains. 

The fight began at sunrise. At 9.30 o'clock 
the remains of the panic-stricken army fled, 
and the red warriors, greedy for the spoils of 
the camp, let them go. But they left behind 
630 men killed, and of the 1,400 who had been 
under arms, "scarce half a hundred were un- 
203 



\ 



Anthony Wayne 



hurt" (Winsor). General Richard Butler, 
Wayne's old comrade, was second in com- 
mand, and was among the slain. 

That was the most disastrous defeat that 
the white men had sustained at the hands of 
the red since the day of Braddock, and it 
came at a time when the nation was in dire 
distress because of the aggressions of the 
British. The British were as exultant as the 
red men. Since the War of the Revolution 
no event had depressed the people of the 
United States as the defeat of St. Clair did, 
and none had placed the republic in greater 
danger. 

It was in this time of wide-spread conster- 
nation and deadly peril that "Mad Anthony " 
Wayne was called on to save the nation. 
And he did it. 



204 



CHAPTER XXI 

AT THE BATTLE OF THE FALLEN TIMBERS 

By an act approved March 5, 1792, the 
President was authorized to fill up the two 
regiments of infantry of which (with a bat- 
talion of artillery) the regular army was 
then composed, until each should contain 960 
enlisted men and non-commissioned officers. 
In addition, because of the exigencies due to 
the defeat of St. Clair, he was to raise three 
more regiments of the same size. The army 
for the defense of the nation was to be in- 
creased to 5,000 men, that is to say, and over 
it a major-general was to be appointed. By 
another act approved May 2, means were pro- 
vided for supporting the Legion of the United 
States, as this army was called. 

In looking about for a man to command 
this Legion, Washington's first choice was 
"Light-Horse Harry " Lee, and Lee wanted 
the appointment. But Lee had held a lower 
rank than some of the men whom Washing- 
ton wished to appoint in the grade of briga- 
diers, and it was therefore necessary to pass 
205 



Anthony Wayne 



him. Anthony Wayne was the next choice in 
Washington's opinion. Yet it is plain that 
Washington did not then have full confidence 
in "Mad Anthony." When Wayne was con- 
sidered in a Cabinet meeting Washington said 
that he was "brave and nothing else." AVhat 
Winsor calls Washington's "studied and writ- 
ten estimate of Wayne " (The Westward 
Movement) is equally severe. In it he says 
Wayne was "more active and enterprising 
than judicious and cautious. No economist, 
it is feared. Open to flattery, vain; easily 
imposed upon and liable to be drawn into 
scrapes." Winsor asserts that such was a 
"prevalent opinion" of "Mad Anthony" in 
the spring of 1792. 

The officers who had found the work of 
Anthony Wayne during the Revolution a con- 
stant reproach to themselves had been able to 
bring even Washington to the belief that 
Wayne was "brave and nothing else." 
Wayne's ill success in business matters had 
created an additional evil impression which 
his strict integrity had not counterbalanced. 
This, with his love of fine clothing, and a 
tendency toward ostentatious display, no 
doubt gave the idea that he was "no econo- 
mist." 

206 



The Battle of the Fallen Timbers 

Nevertheless Washington appointed him 
to the command in April, 1792, and then wrote 
to Lee (who, it will be remembered, was the 
son of Washington's earliest sweetheart), and 
apologized for making the appointment by 
saying that "Wayne has many good points as 
an officer, and it is to be hoped that time, re- 
flection, good advice, and above all, a due 
sense of the importance of the trust, will cor- 
rect his foibles, or cast a shade over them." 
Wayne's nomination was accepted by the Sen- 
ate, though Madison records that the con- 
firmation went through "rather against the 
bristles." 

Hammond, who was then British minister 
to the United States, wrote home that Wayne 
was "the most active, vigilant, and enterpri- 
sing officer in the American army, but his tal- 
ents are purely military." Hammond thought 
Wayne would be apt to attack the posts which 
the British were holding in American terri- 
tory. 

But while the Administration prepared for 
a frontier war by appointing "the most act- 
ive, vigilant, and enterprising officer in the 
American army " to command, Washington 
was obliged to give heed to the peace-at-any- 
price men of the nation. Two peace envoys, 
207 



Anthony Wayne 



Colonel John Hardin and Major Alexander 
Truman, were sent, in the spring of 1792, 
with a flag of truce to the hostile tribes to ar- 
range for a council. They were received by 
the Indians with an appearance of good-will, 
and then, when their apprehensions of possi- 
ble danger were allayed, they were foully 
murdered. 

Nevertheless, the efforts to obtain peace by 
negotiation were continued, and in May, 1793, 
three commissioners were appointed (Benja- 
min Lincoln, Beverley Randolph, and Timo- 
thy Pickering) to meet the Indians at Detroit, 
under the protection of the British garrison 
in that American fortress, and endeavor to 
make a new treaty. 

What Wayne thought of this humiliating 
movement is nowhere recorded, but what he 
did meantime we know. He went to Pitts- 
burg in June, 1792, to organize the troops 
who had been, and were to be, enlisted in the 
Legion. These recruits were gathered by 
sweeping the streets and prisons of the East- 
em cities of their beggars, tramps, and crim- 
inals. And let it be remembered that they 
were a second sweeping of such refuse, the 
first having gone to St. Clair. As these re- 
cruits learned that they were destined to fight 
208 



The Battle of the Fallen Timbers 

Indians their hearts melted, and they de- 
serted in squads, but by slow degrees the 
number corralled at Pittsburg grew until 
there were enough to organize a first sub- 
legion. 

Meantime the contractors who were to 
supply Wayne's expedition proved to be men 
who gloried in the " smartness " by which they 
sold worthless supplies at the prices of the 
best — men utterly devoid of any sense of 
honor. 

For a time Wayne worked as best he could 
at Pittsburg, but finding that the whisky and 
the tales of Indian atrocities which this fron- 
tier city afforded were demoralizing the re- 
cruits faster than he could train them, he 
shipped them all to a camp 27 miles down the 
Ohio, named the post Legionville, and settled 
down for a winter's work as drill-sergeant. 
For so many of the experienced officers of the 
army had been killed at St. Clair's defeat that 
Wayne found himself surrounded by officers 
that needed training as much as the privates 
did. 

In May, 1793, the command was trans- 
ferred to a camp in the vicinity of Fort Wash- 
ington (Cincinnati). In the meantime Knox, 
Secretary of War (he who, by his stupidity, 
209 



Anthony Wayne 



saved the British from utter defeat at Ger- 
mantown), had not been sparing in giving the 
"advice " to Wayne which Washington sup- 
posed was needed. Extracts from Knox's 
letters are interesting. Thus: 

"The sentiments of the citizens of the 
United States are adverse in the extreme to 
an Indian war." 

"It is still more necessary than heretofore 
that no offensive operations should be under- 
taken against the Indians." 

The last extract is from a letter sent to 
Wayne at Fort Washington at the time the 
three American commissioners were on their 
way to negotiate for peace under the protec- 
tion of the British — at a time when the Brit- 
ish, witTi what Roosevelt calls "smooth du- 
plicity " (Winning of the West), were making 
open pretense of friendship for the United 
States, and in every underhanded way were 
strengthening the Indian determination to 
continue the war. 

The work that Wayne did at Legionville 
and Fort Washington gives us a view of his 
character that has been almost, but not quite, 
overlooked by historians — the thoroughness 
of the man. Day by day he brought that mob 
of weaklings and degenerates upon the parade- 
210 



The Battle of the Fallen Timbers 

ground. Day by day, and all day long, lie 
made them march to and fro and go through 
the manual of arms until a time came when 
their watery eyes cleared, their backbones 
stiffened, and their slouching gait became an 
elastic tread. He taught them to wheel into 
line, to lower their muskets and with the 
bayonet charge an enemy they had to imagine 
was before them. And he taught them to yell 
at the top of their voices when they did so. ^ 

He did more. In the annals of the West 
there is one story which the writers tell al- 
most with awe. Louis Wetzell, they say, 
could run "with almost the speed of a deer 
through the woods, and while doing so could 
load his rifle." The annalist writes that with 
wide-eyed wonder, but Wayne took his mob 
of weaklings and trained them until he had 
nearly 1,000 men who could do as Wetzell did 
— who could load their rijfles as they charged 
the enemy at the top of their speed. 

Anthony Wayne — "Mad Anthony " — was 
not only an ideal leader of men in time of bat- 
tle, but he ivas the most capable drill-master 
the American army has ever had. 

One reads that in one of the drill charges 
a squad of mounted men were led into the 
river until some were thought to be in danger 
211 



Anthony Wayne 

of drowning, and on another occasion tliey 
were sent charging across a brigadier-gener- 
al's private garden in order to accustom them 
to obeying orders that seemed without reason. 
But only one writer (Winsor) has recorded 
the ability of Wayne's men to load and fire 
and load again as they charged the enemy. 
That they were also taught to shoot with ac- 
curacy scarcely need be said. Their skill "as 
marksmen astonished the savages on St. Pat- 
rick's day," 1793, when the camp at Legion- 
ville received a visit, and it was the marvel 
of the frontiersmen. 

Inevitably the story of Wayne's thorough 
work reached the hostile camps by the lakes, 
and the British who attended the American 
peace commissioners protested. At that 
these commissioners wrote to the Secretary 
of War a strong remonstrance against 
Wayne's vigorous work on the drill-ground, 
and said that their reason for remonstrating 
was that Wayne's work angered the Indians 
and the British considered it "unfair and un- 
warrantable." 

Fortunately, Wayne was not ordered to 

stop drilling his men. More fortunately still, 

when the peace commissioners reached the 

Detroit River the Indians sent them a mes- 

212 



The Battle of the Fallen Timbers 

eage from a "general council, at the foot of 
Miami (Maumee) Rapids, the 13th day of Au- 
gust, 1793," which said: 

Brothers : We shall be persuaded that you 
mean to do us justice, if you agree that the Ohio 
shall remain the boundary line between us. If 
you will not consent thereto, our meeting will be 
altogether unnecessary. 

A battle was inevitable, though not imme- 
diately at hand. For the news of the failure 
of the peace negotiations traveled so slowly 
in those days, when lakes and rivers were the 
only comfortable highways of the region, that 
it was not possible for Wayne to receive or- 
ders to advance until it was too late to do ef- 
fective work in that season (1793). 

On the whole, however, the delay was ad- 
vantageous to the ultimate result, because it 
gave Wayne additional time for drilling his 
men, and it gave the British time in which to 
prepare the Indians for the conflict. It was 
necessary that both sides be well prepared, if 
a decisive victory was to be obtained. 

What the British now did to prepare the 

Indians is a most important feature of this 

war. "The attitude of the British gradually 

changed from passive to active hostility," 

213 



Anthony Wayne 



says Eoosevelt. "The advisers of the King, 
relying on the weakness of the young Federal 
Republic, had begun to adopt that tone of 
brutal insolence which reflected well the gen- 
eral attitude of the British people toward the 
Americans, and which finally brought on the 
second war between the two nations." 

In the winter (1793-'94), Little Turtle, who 
had led the red hosts when St. Clair was de- 
feated, went to Canada to secure help, and on 
February 10th, with some other chiefs, met 
Lord Dorchester (the Guy Carleton who had, 
with 1,800 men, held Quebec in spite of the 
assaults of 500 American boasters), who was 
now Governor of Canada, for a formal confer- 
ence. Dorchester had just returned from a 
visit to England, and reflecting the spirit of 
the British Government, he said : 

From the manner in which the people of the 
United States push on, and act, and talk, on this 
side; and from what I learn of their conduct 
toward the sea, I shall not be surprised if we are 
at war with them in the course of the present year ; 
and if so, a line must be drawn by the Warriors. 
... I have told you that there is no line between 
them and us. I shall acknowledge no lands to be 
theirs which have been encroached on by them 
since the year 1783. . . . All approaches towards 
214 



The Battle of the Fallen Timbers 

us since that time, and all the purchases [of land 
from the Indians] made ly them I consider as an 
infringement on the King^s rights. And when a line 
is drawn between us, they must lose all their im- 
provements and houses on our side of it. Those 
people must all be gone who do not obtain leave to 
become the King's subjects. 

Lord Dorchester wished the Indians to be- 
lieve that the British were going to declare 
war against the United States, and they did 
believe so. The speech was made deliber- 
ately for the purpose of encouraging the In- 
dians to fight, and the purpose was accom- 
plished. But Dorchester did not stop with 
giving the Indians an encouraging speech. 
To emphasize his words and add to the hostile 
spirit of the Indians, he sent Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor John Graves Simcoe, in April, 1794, 
with three companies of British regulars and 
an unstated number of Canadians, to invade 
the United States and built a fort (Fort 
Miami) at the foot of the Maumee Rapids 
(just above the modern city of Toledo, Ohio). 
This fort was constructed in such fashion 
that it could not be carried without cannon, 
or it carried without cannon, then at an 
enormous loss of life in the assaulting party. 
To the Indians it seemed impregnable. Sim- 
215 



Anthony Wayne 



coe, who had been the colonel of a Tory regi- 
ment during the Revolution, as previously 
noted, heartily hated the Americans, and was 
careful to do the work well. Of the speeches 
that Simcoe made to the Indians meantime, 
there is no official record, but a Pottawattami 
brave, captured by the Americans before the 
final battle, boasted that the British had 
promised to reenforce the Indians with 1,500 
men ; and a Shawnee, at about the same time, 
said that Captain Elliott, the Tory partizan, 
had gone to Detroit, and had promised to 
bring back 1,000 white men to aid the In- 
dians. 

While making these promises, the British 
officials gave the Indians abundant supplies of 
arms and ammunition, and Alexander McKee, 
the British Indian agent, was careful to see 
that the Indians received guns of the best 
quality, instead of the trade guns usually 
given them in exchange for furs. 

The British fort, built on American soil, 
and where it might serve well to protect the 
Indian villages along the Maumee, was to the 
red men a sufficient earnest that the promises 
of reenforcements would be kept. The sup- 
plies of ammunition gave additional assur- 
ance, and 2,000 warriors, well armed and 
216 



The Battle of the Fallen Timbers 

eager for the conflict, gathered on the Mau- 
mee in the spring of 1794. 

And while they rested there, looking for- 
ward eagerly for the day of battle, they were 
visited by emissaries of the Spanish Gov- 
ernor at New Orleans, who came to promise 
them aid and to urge them on to fight. For 
the Spanish were then holding, and hoping to 
keep, a great breadth of the United States ter- 
ritory in the Southwest. 

In the meantime (October 7, 1793), Wayne 
had left his camp at Fort Washington. The 
faint-hearted Knox had written in September 
to say: "Let it therefore again, and for the 
last time, be impressed deeply upon your 
mind, that as little as possible is to be haz- 
arded . . . that a defeat at the present time 
and under the present circumstances, would 
be pernicious in the highest degree to the in- 
terests of our country." To this Wayne re- 
plied: "I pray you not to permit present ap- 
pearances to cause too much anxiety either in 
the mind of the President or yourself on ac- 
count of this army." 

Wayne knew his men at last, and they 
knew him. On October 13th the command en- 
camped where Greenville, Ohio, now stands. 
It was then a spot in the midst of the wilder- 
15 217 



Anthony Wayne 



ness. Wayne built winter quarters and a 
base of supplies there, and named the post for 
his old friend, Major-General Greene, under 
whom he had fought when in Georgia. The 
post stood 6 miles north of Fort Jefferson and 
80 from Cincinnati. 

From this x^ost a detachment was sent for- 
ward, and a fort was erected on the site of 
St. Clair's defeat. It was named Fort Re- 
covery, and a village in Mercer County, Ohio, 
perpetuates the name. The Indians, in large 
bands, haunted the trail over which supplies 
were brought from Cincinnati. Several con- 
voys were attacked, with some loss of men, 
and especially of officers, for although some 
of the recruits were yet "bashful," as a con- 
temporary writes, the young officers had 
caught the spirit of the general, and they 
fought like tigers. But instead of injuring 
the Legion by these attacks, the Indians only 
gave it needed experience. 

In the garrisons the winter wore away 
with unending drills. In the spring came 
rains that flooded the forest, and Wayne was 
obliged to wait for the dry season. While he 
waited the impatient Indians swarmed down 
to Fort Recovery in a band that numbered, 
at the lowest estimate, 1,500 — the most power- 
218 



The Battle of the Fallen Timbers 

ful war party that had ever faced the white 
men — even more powerful than that which 
the intrepid Cornstalk had taken to Point 
Pleasant in 1774. A number of British sol- 
diers and Canadians were in the band, and 
they were accompanied by several British offi- 
cers who intended to aid the Indians with ad- 
vice — particularly in the matter of handling 
some cannon that had been abandoned by St. 
Clair, and had been hidden by the Indians 
under some logs in the woods. The cannon 
were not found, however, because the Amer- 
icans had recovered them ; but the officers re- 
mained to encourage the red warriors. 

The Indians reached the neighborhood of 
Fort Recovery on the night of June 29, 1794. 
A party of 140 Americans that had brought 
supplies to the fort was encamped without 
the walls that night, and on the morning of 
the 30th the Indians charged them and soon 
drove them within the fort, with no small loss. 
Then the exultant red men, with their white 
allies, dashed up to the fort in an effort to 
enter in with the flying Americans, or at 
worst, to swarm over the walls and massacre 
the garrison. 

But Captain Alexander Gibson, who com- 
manded the fort, though he had less than one- 
219 



Anthony Wayne 

fifth as many men as were in the attacking 
force, closed the gate in time, manned the 
walls, and with a fire that was made deadly 
by the unceasing practise the men had had, 
drove the enemy back. 

One repulse, however, could not defeat 
these red men ; for they were confident of ul- 
timate success because of their superior num- 
bers, and because the British officers were 
behind them to urge them on. Throughout 
the whole day the fort was closely besieged ; 
but when night came they gathered up their 
dead by the light of torches, and the next 
morning, after the failure of a feeble assault, 
they filed away through the forest, beaten. 

Three weeks later General Charles Scott, 
with more than 1,000 mounted militiamen 
from Kentucky, joined Wayne, and on July 
27th the army began once more its north- 
ward march. Scouts were kept out in all di- 
rections, and they were so active and vigilant 
that the Indian scouts were baffled. The In- 
dians came to believe that Wayne was march- 
ing toward the head of the Maumee (Fort 
Wayne, Ind.), when in fact he was headed for 
the junction of the Maumee and Auglaise 
Elvers. 

On the banks of the St. Mary's River, in 
220 



The Battle of the Fallen Timbers 

Mercer County, Wayne paused long enough 
to erect a stockade for the protection of con- 
voys with supplies. He named it Fort 
Adams, and then continued cutting his way 
through the solid green timber in Van Wert 
and Paulding Counties (I saw the old trail 
through the woods often forty years ago), and 
he reached the junction of the Maumee and 
Auglaise Rivers on August 8th. 

The French had named this big tributary 
of the Maumee Au Glaise because of the rich 
loam of the plains found there. When 
Wayne arrived the fields of corn stretched 
away for miles along both rivers, and the corn 
was in the black silk, but the Indians were to 
have no green-corn dance that year. A de- 
serter named Newman had given the Indians 
the alarm, so that they fled just in time to es- 
cape, but their homes and fields were deso- 
lated, and a fort was built in the forks of the 
rivers that, with his mind on the British in- 
vaders, Wayne named Fort Defiance. And 
the town of Defiance, Ohio, perpetuates its 
name. 

On August 15th Wayne crossed to and 
marched down the left bank of the Maumee. 
He marched slowly, because he was still will- 
ing to give the tribes peace, but fortunately 
221 



Anthony Wayne 



for the ultimate result, the Indians had full 
confidence that the British in the fort at the 
foot of the rapids would give them aid in bat- 
tle, and succor in case of need, as they had 
promised to do. So Wayne's offers were re- 
jected. But to gain time for bringing on re- 
enforcements Chief Little Turtle asked for a 
cessation of hostilities for ten days, promis- 
ing to treat at the end of that time — a request 
that Wayne refused of course. 

On August 18, 1794, Wayne and his army 
arrived at a spot called Roche de Bout, at the 
head of the rapids, where he camped. The 
modern village of Waterville marks the site 
of the camping-ground. Here the army lay 
on the 19th while numerous scouts examined 
the enemy's ground and a small fortification 
called Fort Deposit was thrown up to protect 
the baggage. 

Most interesting were the facts that the 
scouts learned. There were from 1,500 to 
2,000 Indians and 70 white Canadians wait- 
ing to meet the American army. The ground 
where they were lying was known as the 
Fallen Timbers. A tornado had swept across 
the country and had piled up the huge trees of 
the primitive forest in confused masses and 
heaps that gave ideal cover for such fighters 
222 



The Battle of the Fallen Timbers 

as the red men. The British fort was but two 
miles below the advance edge of this entangle- 
ment, and the Indians were confident that its 
garrison would come to their aid as soon as 
the battle was begun. 

Having studied the ground well on the 
19th, Wayne gave his men their breakfast the 
next morning, and then at eight o'clock, with 
a battalion of mounted Kentuckians, under 
Major Price as an advance-guard, he marched 
down the river in column. Wayne was suf- 
fering from gout so severely that morning 
that he could not mount unaided, and four 
men lifted him into the saddle. The pain 
brought tears to his eyes, but he held his 
place. 

When between five and six miles below 
the camp. Major Price, with his advance- 
guard, saw the Indians in their hiding-place, 
and charged them. But the enemy was in full 
force among those tangled masses of tree 
trunks, and they opened a fire that literally 
hurled the Kentuckians back on Wayne's main 
army. 

The supreme moment of the day and of 

the long war on the frontier had come. With 

instant decision Wayne ordered the militia 

under General Scott away to turn the enemy's 

223 



Anthony Wayne 



right, and the dragoons of the Legion to cut 
in between the river and the enemy's left. 
At the same time a line of infantry 900 strong, 
with bayonets fixed, was stretched before the 
enemy, while a second line was placed as a 
reserve in the rear, and then he gave the word 
to charge. 

And as the long roll of the drums began, 
that battle line leaped forward, yelling with 
the joy of the conflict. They pitchforked the 
red men and their allies from behind the logs, 
shot them down as they fled, and dashing on 
in relentless pursuit, loaded and fired, again 
and again, till they had driven the panic- 
stricken hosts past the tight-closed British 
fort, and scattered them far and away in the 
wilderness beyond. 



224 



CHAPTER XXII 

WHEN HIS WORK WAS DONE 

• That bayonet charge of 900 infantrymen 
decided the Battle of the Fallen Timbers, for 
the dragoons and the mounted militiamen 
were able to join in only after the bayonet had 
forked the enemy into a run. It also practi- 
cally ended the long war on the frontier. 
There were a few small raids by small bodies 
of red men thereafter, but the hope of the 
tribes was gone. The Americans lost 33 
killed and 100 wounded. The Indians lost 
two or three times as many. Several of the 
British rangers were killed also. 

With promises which he never intended to 
fulfil the British Governor had urged on the 
Indians to fight. He did this solely to pro- 
mote the British fur trade and other British 
interests. But when the battle came the gates 
of the fort that had been so ostentatiously 
erected on the banks of the Maumee for the 
aid and protection of the Indians were kept 
closed. Not one red man found protection 
there from the bayonets of Wayne's fierce in- 
225 



Anthony Wayne 



fantiy. The Indians were deliberately aban- 
doned to their fate then, as they had been in 
1783, and they well understood that they had 
been. Said Joseph Brant, the great Mohawk 
chief, who had been most active in keeping 
alive the frontier war (who had striven for 
years to form a war league among the West- 
ern tribes to force back the American home 
builders), in a letter to Sir John Johnson: 

"The Indians were engaged in a war to 
assist the English," but were "left in the lurch 
at the peace, to fight alone until they could 
make peace for themselves. After repeatedly 
defeating the armies of the United States so 
that they sent Commissioners to endeavor to 
get peace, the Indians were so advised as pre- 
vented them from listening to any terms and 
hopes were given them of assistance. A fort 
was even built in their country, under pre- 
tence of giving refuge in case of necessity; 
but when that time came the gates were shut 
against them as enemies. . . . They relied 
upon it for support and were deceived." 

The events immediately following the bat- 
tle also impressed the Indians deeply. The 
British fort was commanded by Major Wil- 
liam Campbell. On August 21st the major 
wrote to Wayne to ask "in what light I am to 
226 



when His Work was Done 

view your making such near approaches to 
this garrison? " Wayne replied that "were 
you entitled to an answer, the most full and 
satisfactory one was announced to you from 
muzzles of my small arms yesterday morn- 
ing." 

■ On the 22d Campbell wrote saying: 
" Should you, after this, continue to approach 
my post in the threatening manner you are 
at this moment doing, my indispensable duty. 
. . . will oblige me to" fire on you. 

By the latest instructions he had received 
"Wayne was permitted to attack this fort if, in 
his judgment, it was to the interest of the na- 
tion to do so; for Washington's doubt as to 
AVayne's ability and good judgment had van- 
ished. When Wayne was clearing the eyes 
and stiffening the backbones of the slouching 
mob that had been given to him as an army, 
he was clearing other eyes than those of his 
recruits. But Wayne thought it was not yet 
necessary to attack the fort ; instead of doing 
so he replied to Major Campbell's letter by 
sweeping from the ground every building (in- 
cluding the trading store of Alexander Mc- 
Kee, the British Indian agent), and every 
other improvement, up to, and "even under 
the muzzles of the guns " in the fort. 
227 



Anthony Wayne 



It is certain that this destruction of Brit- 
ish property under the guns of a fort manned 
by British soldiers finally and fully convinced 
the Indian sachems that their hope of help 
from the British was gone forever. 

After clearing the ground about Fort 
Miami, Wayne went down the river and built 
a wooden fort, called Fort Industry, on land 
that now forms the "easterly corner of Sum- 
mit and Monroe Streets," Toledo, Ohio 
(Gunckel's "Maumee Valley"). When this 
was finished and garrisoned the army moved 
slowly up the Maumee Valley. The Indian 
settlements had looked like a continuous vil- 
lage, and the valley was one vast cornfield. 
But in the interests of peace all the villages 
and the corn had to be destroyed; and the 
work was done thoroughly. 

At the junction of the St. Mary's and St. 
Joseph's Elvers — the head of the Maumee — 
where the army arrived on September 17th, 
a large fort was built, and placed under the 
command of Colonel John F. Hamtramck, 
who, on October 20, 1794, "after a discharge 
of 15 guns, and naming the fort by a garrison 
order ' Fort Wayne,' marched his command 
into it." (Captain John Cooke's Journal.) 

Wayne left Fort Wayne on October 27th 
228 



when His Work was Done 

(after having, in the meantime, built boats 
for the navigation of tlie Maumee, and other- 
wise provided for holding the country), and 
reached Greenville on Sunday, November 2, 
1794. Here he settled down for the winter. 
And here, on August 3, 1795, he concluded a 
treaty with 15 tribes and divisions of tribes, 
"to put an end to a destructive war, to settle 
all controversies, and to restore harmony and 
friendly intercourse " between the Indians 
and the United States; also to establish a 
boundary between the red men and the white. 
And this the treaty did. For the first time 
in twenty years there was peace on the fron- 
tier, and the peace lasted nearly fifteen years. 

It is pleasing to remember that in negoti- 
ating this treaty Wayne frankly and fully ex- 
plained its meaning again and again to the 
Indians. They learned exactly what land 
they were selling and exactly what was ex- 
pected of them. In return for the cession 
they received $20,000 worth of goods, which 
were distributed to the 1,130 Indians present, 
while annuities amounting in all to $9,500 
were granted to the tribes represented. Then 
"as a last word," Wayne told the Indians they 
were "children and no longer brothers." 

But more than peace with the red man was 
obtained by this work of Anthony Wayne. A 
229 



Anthony Wayne 



war with Great Britain was averted by the 
victory at the Fallen Timbers. John Jay had 
been sent to London to negotiate a treaty, a 
chief object of which was to secure to the 
United States the territory defined by the 
treaty of 1783 and the evacuation of the 
American frontier posts that the British had 
been holding in defiance of that treaty, and 
had, indeed, strengthened, as if intending to 
hold them forever. When Jay arrived and 
opened negotiations, the British commis- 
sioner (Grenville), who had heard of the skill 
of Wayne's Legion, stipulated first of all that 
there should be no overt act of war between 
the two nations during the negotiations. And 
when he heard how the bayonet had done the 
work at Fallen Timbers, he promptly agreed 
that the British would abandon the forts they 
had held so long. 

It was Anthony Wayne who first spread 
the Gridiron Flag over all the broad domain 
between the Ohio River, the Great Lakes, and 
the Mississippi River. It was he that opened 
the way for the home builders, who soon came 
in throngs over all the routes to the new land. 

Praise had not been lacking during the ca- 
reer of Anthony Wayne, even though the envy 
of lesser minds had given Washington an in- 
correct view of the man. But after his work 
230 



when His Work was Done 

at Greenville had been completed he was to 
have one day of glory. For three years he 
had lived in the wilderness, where at times 
weeks passed without news from the civilized 
part of the nation. But after the treaty was 
concluded, and everything was made secure, 
Wayne returned to Pennsylvania. How he 
was applauded along the route by the hero- 
worshiping populace one "can better imagine 
than express," to quote words he often used 
in his letters. On Saturday, February 6, 
1796, he reached Philadelphia. Four miles 
from the city three troops of light horse from 
the city met him, to serve him as a guard of 
honor. A salute of 15 guns was fired as he 
crossed the ferry, and "he was ushered into 
the city by the ringing of bells, and other 
demonstrations of joy, and thousands of citi- 
zens crowded to see and welcome the return 
of their brave general, whom they attended to 
the city tavern, where he alighted. In the 
evening a display of fireworks was exhibited " 
(Pennsylvania Gazette, February 10, 1796). 
And Congress had resolved (December 4, 
1794) "That the thanks of this House be 
given to Major-General Wayne for the good 
conduct and bravery displayed by him in the 
action of the twentieth of August last, with 
the Indians." 

231 



Anthony Wayne 



But when Wayne's greatest hour of glory 
and joy came to him — when all men acknowl- 
edged the worth of his work — the sun was 
low down in the afternoon of his day. 

On April 30, 1796, the House decided to 
vote appropriations to carry into effect Jay's 
treaty with England, and orders were sent by 
the British authorities to commanders of the 
posts on the American territory to deliver 
them up to the Americans. Fort Miami, on 
the Maumee, had been abandoned by the Brit- 
ish on July 11, 1795, and now that the others 
were to be evacuated, Wayne was appointed 
to receive them. 

"He knew the English on the border, with 
their allies the Indians, and they knew him," 
says one writer. Moreover, the man who had 
won the territory was the one to whom the 
honor of receiving it was due. 

Wayne left home on this mission in July, 
1796. It is worth noting that one Moses 
Cleaveland, with a party of 50 pioneers, had 
left Connecticut the preceding month on his 
way to settle where Cleveland, Ohio, now 
stands — the first of the great hosts of home 
makers who thronged to the region to which 
Wayne had confirmed the American title. 

Of Wayne's meeting with the British offi- 
cials and with the Indians, and of the transfer 
232 



when His Work was Done 

of the posts, one fact only is memorable: 
Wayne was treated with the distinguished 
consideration that soldiers and warriors — 
men trained to fight — always give to one who 
has met them man-fashion. The Miami In- 
dians had named him Black Snake because of 
the relentless manner in which his army had 
penetrated the wilderness thickets in search 
of the enemy. The Pottawattamies called 
him the Tornado because of the impetuosity 
of his men when they charged at the Fallen 
Timbers. 

In November, when this work was finally 
done, Wayne sailed from Detroit in the sloop 
Detroit, for Presque Isle (Erie, Pa.). On 
November 17th, the day before he landed, he 
was seized with an attack of his old enemy, 
the gout. He was taken ashore on the 18th, 
and at the American fortress overlooking the 
bay he was cared for as tenderly as possible. 

But care was unavailing. "How long he 
can continue to suffer such torture is hard to 
say," wrote one of the garrison on December 
14th, "but it appears to me that nature must 
soon sink under such acute aflQiction." In 
his life he had faced every vicissitude of a 
soldier's career with clear eyes, and now, 
with unbroken fortitude, he died. 

The end came at ten minutes after two 
10 233 



Anthony Wayne 



o'clock on the morning of December 15, 1796. 
At his request they buried him at the foot of 
the flagstaff of the fortress. He wished to 
lie under the shadow of the flag for which he 
had fought faithfully and well. 

Here his body remained until 1809, when, 
at the request of his son, Colonel Isaac 
Wayne, his bones were taken up and carried 
to St. David's churchyard, at Radnor, near 
Philadelphia. There a modest monument 
was erected by the Society of the Cincinnati, 
on which these words were inscribed: 

{North Front) 

Major General 

Anthony Wayne 

was born at Waynesborough 

In Chester County 

State of Pennsylvania 

A. D. 1745. 

After a life of Honor & Usefulness 

He died in December 1796, 

At a military post 

On the shores of Lake Erie 

Commander-in-chief of the Army of 

The United States. 

His military achievements 

Are consecrated 

In the history of his country 

And in 

The hearts of his countrymen. 

His Remains 

4.re here Deposited. 

234 



when His Work was Done 

(South Front) 

In honor of the distinguished 

Military Services of 

MAJOR GENERAL ANTHONY WAYNE 

And as an affectionate tribute 

of respect to his Memory 

This Stone was erected by his Companions 

In Arms 

The Pennsylvania State Society of 

The Cincinnati, 

July 4th A. D. 1809, 

Thirty fourth anniversary of 

The Independence of the United States, 

An event which constitutes the most 

Appropriate Eulogium 

Of an American Soldier and 

Patriot. 

In 1876 the original grave at Erie was 
discovered, and in 1879 an appropriation of 
$1,000 was obtained from the State Legisla- 
ture by patriotic citizens of the city. To this 
the citizens added $500, and with the total 
sum a stone was placed on the grave where 
the dust of his body reposed. Over this 
stone a model of a blockhouse of squared oak 
logs was erected, 16 feet square and 10 feet 
high. Above that a second story, octagonal 
in shape, was built, and from the center of 
the roof — directly, above the grave — was 
erected a flagstaff, from which the Gridiron 
Flag is flung to the breeze. 
235 



Anthony Wayne 



With the monument at Radnor and the 
flagstaff at Erie in mind, one might believe 
that "the paths of glory lead but to the 
grave." Yet it is not so. For while the 
memory of his work remains, who can esti- 
mate the influence of a hero upon his coun- 
trymen? 



236 



INDEX 



ADA 
A DAMS, JOHN, on warlike 

r^^ activity of Quakers, 20; 
indignant, "shoot a general," 
174. 

Allen, Lleut.-Col. William, 
with Sullivan's army, 42. 

AUentown, British at, 114. 

Amboy, British at, 48. 

Ammunition, American, de- 
stroyed by rain, 77. 

Andre, Maj., writes "Cow 
Chace," 163; contempt for 
Americans, 164. 

Archer, Henry W., Congress 
thanks, 158. 

Armstrong, Col. John, at Kit- 
tanning, 3, 4; militia under, 
at Pyle's Ford (Brandywine), 
71; (general) at Germantown, 
89. 

Arnold, Benedict, sends Wil- 
kinson for help, 41; escapes 
enemy, 42; climbs Mount De- 
fiance, 49; his heart-breaking 
treason, 166; robs Americans 
of a hero, 167. 

Assembly of Representatives, 
14. 

Au Glaise River named, 221. 

Ayres, Captain, of tea ship 
Polly, 15; warned, 16; leaves 
■with cargo, 17. 

BAYARD, COL., sent for 
clothes and arms, 106. 
Bayonets necessary on battle- 
field, 61; described, 108. 



BUG 

Bear Mountain, 149. 

Bienville de Celeron, visits 
Ohio Valley, 1. 

"Black Snake," Indian name 
of Wayne, 233. 

Bland, Col., at Germantown, 
94. 

Bloodgood, describes Pennsyl- 
vanians, 26. 

Boasters, Carleton'a idea of, 
.32. 

Boys, Wayne trains, 4; in the 
army, 55. 

Braddock, intentions of, 2; in- 
fluence of defeat on Anthony 
Wayne, 4, 5. 

Brandywine, events leading to 
battle of, 68; the battle, 72. 

Brant, Joseph, Indian, tells of 
British perfidy, 226. 

Brinton's Ford, Americans de- 
fend, 71. 

British, plan of action in 1776, 
49; declare war against 
France, 112; refuse to evacu- 
ate Detroit, 200; exultant 
when St. Clair defeated, 204; 
idea of Wayne, 207; "smooth 
duplicity" of, 210; view of 
Wayne's work, 212; build fort 
on Maumee, 215; abandon 
their red allies, 226; evacuate 
Fort Maumee, 232. 

Brown, Col., whipped and lost 
in swamp, 190. 

Buchanan, Capt., at Brandy, 
wine, 74. 



237 



Anthony Wayne 



BUG 

"Buckskin," nickname for 
Southern troops, 27. 

Burgoyne, Gates aids indirect- 
ly, 49; takes Tlconderoga, 66. 

Butcher knighted, 164. 

Butler, Col. Richard, at Mon- 
mouth, 118; Wayne praises, 
126; Wayne's interest in, 136; 
at Stony Point, 142, 147, 150, 
152; follows mutineers, 174; 
killed, 204. 



CALHOUN, the widow, ar- 
rested, 148. 

Campbell, Maj. William, let- 
ters to Wayne, 226, 227. 

Canada, French raid from, 1. 

Cannibalism, 3. 

Carleton, Guy, cooped in Que- 
bec, 21; marches out of Que- 
bec, 32; looks at Ticonderoga 
and retreats, 47; news of, a 
stimulant, 51; as Lord Dor- 
chester, incites Indians to 
fight Americans, 214. 

Chadd's Ford, Wayne defends, 
71. 

Chambers, Col. James, tells of 
retreat at Brandywine, 74; 
takes guns, 75. 

Chambly, 42, 44. 

Champion, Capt. Henry, at 
Stony Point, 142. 

Charleston, British cooped in, 
185; Wayne enters, 192. 

Cherokee Indians, in Georgia, 
187; peace treaty with, 193. 

Chester County, Wayne's own, 
1, 3. 

Chestnut Hill, Germantown, 89. 

Chew, Benjamin, Chief Justice, 
his mansion, 88, 90, 91. 

Chrystie, Capt. James, at Stony 
Point, 147. 



COR 
Clarke, Sir Arnold, commands 

in Georgia, 187. 
Clement, Wayne's troops reach, 

149. 
Clinton, Sir Henry, ordered to 
New York City, 112; purpose 
before Monmouth battle, 114; 
plans to "outwit" Ameri- 
cans, 115; rear-guard at- 
tacked, 117; tactics at Mon- 
mouth, 119; orders to, 139; 
goes up Hudson, 139; orders 
Connecticut ravaged, 141. 

Cocquard, Father Claude God- 
frey, S. J., tells of Indian 
cannibalism, 3. 

Coe, Capt., arrested, B5. 

Collier, Sir George, ravages 
Connecticut coast, 141. 

"Commodore," the, nicknames 
Wayne "Mad Anthony," 182. 

Congress, Continental, 22; or- 
ders Wayne to New York and 
Canada, 29, 30; orders capture 
of St. Johns and Montreal, 30; 
sends soldiers to Canada, 30- 
32; enlists one-year men, 52; 
thanks heroes of Stony Point, 
158; when it heard mutineer 
soldiers were coming, 175; 
makes Wayne a major-gen- 
eral, 193; organizes Northwest 
Territory, 200; afraid of stand- 
ing army, 203; authorizes 
army, 205; thanks Wayne, 231. 

Conshohocken, Americans at, 
76. 

Contractors as thieves, 209. 

Contrecoeur gets Fort Du- 
quesne, 2. 

Conway at Germantown, 89. 

Cornstalk, Indian, 219. 

Cornwallis, Lord, at Brandy- 
wine, 72; at Warren tavern, 
77; sent to take Philadelphia, 



238 



Index 



cou 

86; at Monmouth, 123; driven 
toward Yorktown, 177; traps 
Wayne, 180; hedged In at 
Yorktown, 184. 

County Committee of Safety, 
Chester, Wayne on, 18, 19; 
declares against independ- 
ence, 20. 

"Cow Chace," 171, et seq. 

Cranberry, Washington at, 116. 

" Creeks, Indians, in revolution 

In Georgia, 186; Creek chiefs 

captured, 188; peace treaty 

with, 193. 

Crown Point threatened by 
Braddock, 2, 3; captured by 
patriots, 30; Americans re- 
treat to, 44; evacuated, 47. 

DEANE, envoy to France, a 
trator, 167. 

Defiance, Mt., climbed, 49. 

Detroit, held by British, 200. 

Detroit, sloop, 233. 

Dickenson, Gen., at Monmouth, 
117. 

Dickenson, John, to Pennsyl- 
vania Assembly, 14; on Colo- 
nial Committee, 21. 

Dogs, Wayne kills, 148. 

Dorchester, Lord. See Carle- 
ton, Guy. 

Douglas, Lieut., at Brandy- 
wine, 74. 

Dunbar in retreat of Brad- 
dock's troops, 3. 

Dunderberg, retreat over, 139; 
Wayne crosses, 150. 



E ASTON (Pa.), base of 
American supplies, 140. 
Easttown, Wayne's birthplace, 

1. 
Ebenezer, Americans at, 187. 



FOR 
Elk Ferry, British land at, 67. 
Elliot, Capt., Tory partizan, 

216. 
England, war with Spain, 6; 

controversies with colonies, 

10, 15. 
Englishtown, Lafayette at, 116. 
Erie (Presque Isle), 233. 
Espontoons, Wayne asks for, 

146. 
Estalng, Count d', arrives with 

fleet and men, 130. 
Eutaw Springs, fight at, 185. 

TnAIRPAX, LORD, and 

-*- Washington, 7. 

Fallen Timbers, battle of, 222, 
et seq. 

Febiger, Col. Christian, at 
Stony Point, 141, 142, 150, 152; 
goes to Virginia, 161. 

Ferguson, Maj. Patrick, 73. 

Firelocks, described, 21. 

Fleury, Lieut.-Col., at Stony 
Point, 142, 150; hauls down 
British flag, 155; Congress 
thanks, 158. 

Forbes, Gen., organizes army, 
4. 

Fort Presque Isle, 2; Waterford, 
2; Du Quesne (Pitt), 2; Ticon- 
deroga, 27, 30, 46, 47, 49, 51, 
174; Crown Point, 30, 45, 46; 
Mt. Independence, 48, 55; 
George, 51; Mercer, 97; Mif- 
flin, 97; Providence Island, 
98; Stony Point, 139, et seq.; 
Verplanck's Point, 139; Mont- 
gomery, 140, 143, 149; Lee, 
162; blockhouse, 162; West 
Point, 166, et seq.; York- 
town, 177; Harmar, 202; 
Washington, 202; Miami, 215; 
232; Greene, 218; Jefferson, 
218; Recovery, 218; Adams, 



239 



Anthony Wayne 



221; 
222; 
228. 



FOR 
Defiance, 221; Deposit, 
Industry, 228; Wayne, 



Fort Wayne, Indian villages at, 
raided, 202; named, 228. 

France, recognizes independ- 
ence of the United States, 
112; American hopes in re- 
gard to, 130. 

Franklin, his opinion of Wayne, 
7, 8; organizes colonizing as- 
sociation, 8; on Colonial Com- 
mittee, 21. 

Fraser, Gen., startled at Three 
Rivers, 36. 

Freehold, British at, 115. 

French Creek, navigation on, 
2. 

French, expedition to Ohio Val- 
ley, 1; and British, 1, 2; at 
Presque Isle, 2; lead Indians, 
3; raids influence Wayne, 5; 
reach Yorktown, 184. 

Fur buyers and the war, 200. 



GATES, GEN., incompetent, 
46; ignores Mt. Defiance, 
49; "attention to," profitable, 
57; sneers at Wayne, 183. 

Georgia, Wayne frees, 182, et 
seq. 

Germain, Lord George, direc- 
tions as to "Mr. Washing- 
ton," 139. 

Germantown, rolls taken at, 76; 
Washington at, 76; described, 
87; battle at, 89, et scq. 

Gibbons, Capt., luck at Stony 
Point, 153; Congress thanks, 
158. 

Gibson, Capt. Alexander, beats 
back Indians, 219, 220. 

Government, American, breaks 
faith with soldiers, 193. 



HOL 

Grant, Gen., offered battle, 65; 
his coat was soiled, 66; at 
Germantown, 88. 

Graydon, Alexander, describes 
Wayne, 62; on Wayne's style, 
66. 

Greene, Nathaniel, Maj.-Gen., 
at Brandy wine, 72; at Ger- 
mantown, 89; commands 
Southern Dept., 177; fort 
named after, 218. 

Green Spring, fight at, 180, et 
seq., 184. 

Greenville, Wayne at, 217. 

Greuville, British commission- 
er, 230. 

Grey, Gen., night attack on 
Wayne, 80; at Germantown, 
88, 93. 

Guristersijo leads night attack 
on Wayne, 191. 



HAMMOND, describes 
Wayne, 207. 

Hampton, Col. Wade, in Geor- 
gia, 186. 

Hamtramck, Col. John F., 228. 

Hardin, Col. John, peace en- \ 
voy, murdered^ 208. ' j 

HarmfrT^'Gen. Josiah, expedi- 
tion raiding Indians, 202. 

Hay, Lieut.-Col. Samuel, at 
Stony Point, 142. 

Hazlewood, Commodore, of 
Penn. fleet, 97. 

Henry, William, supplies bayo- 
nets, 108. 

Hessians, at Paoli massacre, 82; 
at Germantown, 92. 

Heth, Capt., tells of German- 
town, 95. 

Highlands, threatened, 140. 

Holida, Jonah, knocked down 
by Wayne, 54. 



240 



Index 



HOM 

Homeseekers, in Northwest 
territory, 200; number killed, 
202. 

Hopewell, council of war at, 
114. 

Howe, takes New York, 49; on 
way to Philadelphia, 66; at 
Brandy wine, 70, et seq.; 
Washington hunts for, 76; 
opinion of American army 
expressed, 76; gets details of 
Wayne's forces, 79; night 
march, 85; admits defeat at 
Germantown, 92; below Phil- 
adelphia, 97; Into winter 
quarters, 101. 

Hull, Maj. William, at Stony 
Point, 142. 

Humpton, Col. Richard, at Pa- 
oli tavern, 81; blamed, 84. 

Hunter, Lieut., at Paoli fight, 
82. 



IMLAYSTOWN, British at, 
114. 
Indians, cannibalism, 3; raids, 
3; in Georgia, 186, 187; Wayne 
deceives Greek chiefs, 188; 
attack Wayne at night, 191; 
peace treaties with, 193; urged 
to claim land, 200; treaties 
with, 201; extent of devasta- 
tions, 202; defeat St. Clair, 
203, 204; murder peace envoys, 
208; treating with, 208; Brit- 
ish encourage, 210, 215; aston- 
ished by Legion's skill, 212; 
warriors gather on the Mau- 
mee, 216; haunt Wayne's 
trail, 218; attack fort, 219; 
outwitted, 220; alarmed, 221; 
confident, 222; whipped, at 
Fallen Timbers, 222, et seq.; 
deserted by British, 225, 226; 



241 



KNY 
treaty with Wayne, 229; 
"children, not brothers," 229. 
Irvine, Col., at Three Rivers, 
35; captured, 40; Wayne's in- 
terest in, 136; appeals to offi- 
cers about to resign, 166; with 
Wayne, 168; after Arnold's 
treason, 169. 



JACKSON, ANDREW, as 
duelist, 129. 

Jackson, Col. James, in Geor- 
gia, 186. 

Jaques, Benjamin, patriot, farm 
occupied, 143. 

"Jemy the Rover," nicknames 
Wayne, 182. 

Jerseymen at Three Rivers, 34. 

Johnson, Lieut. -Col. Henry, 
commands Stony Point, 145. 

Johnson, Sir John, Brant's let- 
ter to, 226. 

Jones, John Paul, every kind of 
a fighting man, 129. 

Jones's Ford, on Brandywine, 
71. 

Jones's tavern, 140. 



T^ENTUCKY, people killed 
-'-^ in, by Indians, 202; sends 

aid to Wayne, 220; Kingston, 

116. 
Knox, Gen. Henry, blunders at 

Germantown, 91; Secretary of 

War, advises Wayne, 209, 210; 

faint-hearted, 217. 
Knox, Lieut. George, luck at 

Stony Point, 153; Congress 

thanks, 158. 
Knyphausen, at Brandywine, 

72; attack on Wayne, 73; at 

Germantown, 88, 92; sent with 

baggage, 115. 



Anthony Wayne 



LAB 

LA BCBUP, Washington at, 
2. 

Lacy, Col., at Germantown, 92. 

Lafayette, Marquis de, 86; at 
Monmouth council of war, 
113; oversight of forces, 116; 
joined by Wayne, 179. 

Langlade, Charles, attacks Pic- 
awillany, 2. 

Laureus, Col. John, wounds 
Gen. Lee in duel, 129. 

Lee, Charles, "experienced gen- 
eral," 45; gives Howe plans, 
66; at council before Mon- 
mouth, 113; betrays Ameri- 
cans, 114; dies a natural 
death, 128; attacks Washing- 
ton, Steuben, and Wayne, 
128; duel, 129. 

Lee, Maj. "Light - Horse 
Harry," Wayne writes to, 
126; patrols at Stony Point, 
147; Washington's first choice 
to win the Northwest terri- 
tory, 205; Washington writes 
to, 207. 

Legion of the U. S., 205; enlist- 
ments into, 208, et seq.; 
moved to Legionville, 209; to 
Cincinnati, 209; drilled, 210, 
211; skill, 212; leaves Ft. 
Washington, 217; gets needed 
experience, 218; at Fallen 
Timbers, 222, et seq. 

Legionville named, 209. 

Legislature of Georgia, consults 
with Wayne, 187; rewards 
Wayne for driving British out 
of Georgia, 192. 

Leonidas, a modern, i26. 

Lincoln, Benjamin, peace com- 
missioner, 208. 

"Little Gibraltar" — Stony 

Point, 145. 



MON 

Little Turtle secures help, 214; 
asks Wayne to delay, 222. 

Long, Commissary John, un- 
easy, 104. 

Lynch law, an incident of, 176. 



"jV/TACPHERSON, WILLIAM, 

-'-'-'- commissioned a major, 
165. 

Madison on Wayne's confirma- 
tion as commander in North- 
west, 207. 

Magan, Robert, colonel of 
Pennsylvania battalion, 23. 

Malcom, Col., reports on Brit- 
ish work, 144. 

Marietta, St. Clair, comes to, 
201. 

Maumee River, Wayne on, 220, 
221; Wayne builds boats for, 
228. 

Maxwell, Col., his battalion at 
Three Rivers, 35, et seq.; at 
Brandy wine, 72; at German- 
town (Chew's mansion), 91; 
at Monmouth, 118. 

McKee, Alexander, gives In- 
dians good guns, 216; store 
destroyed, 227. 

McLane, Capt. Allen, at Stony 
Point, 147. 

Meigs, Col. Return Jonathan, 
at Stony Point, 142, 150. 

Miami Indians name Wayne, 
233. 

Middlebrook, Washington 
marches to, 62, 140. 

Mifflin, Gen., a politician, 194. 

Monckton, Col., attacks Wayne, 
123; killed, 125. 

Monmouth, battle of, at hand, 
111; story of, 112, et seq. 

Monongahela Valley settled, 2. 



242 



Index 



MON 
Montreal, threatened, 30; 

Arnold at, 41. 
Morgan, his corps, 98. 
Morris, Robert, on Colonial 

Committee, 21; Wayne writes 

to, 132. 
Morristown, patriots camp at, 

59; Wayne at, 60. 
Mount Airy, Germantown, 88; 

attack on, 89. 
Mount Defiance, 48. 
Mount Independence, 48. 
Moylan's dragoons in Georgia, 

186. 
Muhlenberg, Gen., brigade at 

Brandywine, 71. 
Murfree, Major Hardy, at Stony 

Point, 142, 150, 154. 
Musgrave, Col., at German- 
town, 88; attacked, 90. 
Muskets to replace rifles, 61. 
Mutiny of Penn. Line, 170, et 

seq.; second mutiny, 178. 



NASH, GEN., at German- 
town, 91. 
Navy, Provincial Assembly pro- 
vides for, 22. 
Neilson, Captain, company of, 

makes trouble, 53. 
New Brunswick, British at, 47. 
New Jersey, soldiers in Canada, 

34; overrun by British, 50; 

almost retrieved, 59; Wayne 

forages in, 110. 
Newman a deserter, 221. 
New York, Americans driven 

from, 47. 
Nicolet, Americans at, 34, 
"No quarter," 82. 
Norfolk burned, effect of, 157. 
"Northern Gateway," 30; 

Wayne guards, 50. 



PEN 

Northwest territory organized, 
200. 

Nova Scotia, Wayne in coloni- 
zing company, 8. 



OGEECHEE River, end of 
Wayne's line of posts, 187. 
Ogeeehee road fight, 189. 
Oswald, Colonel, artillery at 
Monmouth, 120. 



TDAOLI, Wayne born at, 11; 

-*- "massacre" at, 80, et 
seq. 

Pattison, Gen., describes Stony 
Point armament, 145. 

Paulding County, Ohio, trail 
through, 221. 

Paulus Hook, British at, 48. 

Pennsylvania Assembly, 14; re- 
quested to furnish troops, 22, 
23; constitution of, 65, 196; 
Legislature remonstrates, 104; 
grants soldiers temporary re- 
lief, 133; when it heard sol- 
diers were coming, 175. 

Pennsylvania Line, Wayne col- 
onel of, 23; men described, 26, 
28; Thatcher on, 27; in riot, 
27; ordered to New York, 29; 
in Canada, 34; spirit of, 51; 
Wayne praises, 58; at Brandy- 
wine, 69; at Chadd's Ford, 
71-74; at Paoll tavern, 81; at 
Germantown, 90; In disorder, 
93; at Monmouth, 118, 121; St. 
Clair commands, 134; cover 
Haverstraw road, 140; mutiny 
of, 171; detachment sent 
South, 177; mutiny again, 178. 

Penrose, Bartholomew, Wayne's 
father-in-law, 11. 

Penrose, Mary, becomes 



243 



Anthony Wayne 



PET 
Wayne's wife, 11; pet names 
for, 68. 

Peters, Richard, Wayne writes 
to, 56, 98, 104, 105, 108. 

Pliiladelphia, army organized 
at, 4; plans to capture, 66; 
Cornwallis sent to talte, 86; 
plan for attack on, 100; talien 
by British, 112; society in, 
described, 131; Wayne's bones 
buried near, 234. 

Phillips, Gen., joins Cornwallis, 
179. 

Picawillany, British post at- 
tacked, 2. 

Pickering, Timothy, peace 
commissioner, 208. 

Pike, model of, wanted, 22. 

Piticoodzack, colony at, 8. 

Pittsburg, Wayne at, 208. 

Politician and patriot con- 
trasted, 65; see also 174. 

Polly, tea ship, 15, 16. 

Porcupine fighter, Wayne not 
one, 70. 

Porter, Gen., faith in army, 86. 

Posey, Major Thomas, in light 
corps, 142; in Georgia (col- 
onel), 189. 

Pottawattami, brave captured, 
216; name Wayne, 233. 

Potts, Isaac, his forge, 102. 

Presque Isle (Erie), 2; Wayne 
dies at, 233. 

Price, Major, at the Fallen 
Timbers, 223. 

Princeton, victory at, 47. 

Proctor's artillery at Chadd's 
Ford, 71. 

Provincial Assembly" (Pennsyl- 
vania), promotes Wayne, 21; 
provides for warlike supplies, 
21; for navy, 22; authorizes 
bills of credit, 21. 



STO 

Providence Island, fort on, 97. 

Putnam, Col. Rufus, at Stony 
Point, 142. 

Pyles Ford, on the Brandy- 
wine, 71. 

QUAKERS, oppose British 
ministry, 15; warlike, 20. 
Quebec besieged, 30. 
Queen's Light Dragoons at 
Monmouth, 119. 

TDANDOLPH, BEVERLEY. 






peace commissioner, 208. 



Rawdon, Lord, Greene's op- 
ponent in the South, 185. 

"Rebels," British, 62. 

Recovery, Ohio, St. Clair at- 
tacked at, 203. 

Red Clay Creek, army at, 69. 

Reed, President, Wayne writes 
to, 171; "much concerned," 
173; adjusts mutiny troubles, 
175. 

Riflemen, poor at hand-to-hand 
fighting, 109. 

Rifles, experts with, few, 29; 
replaced by muskets, 61; 
breech-loaders, Ferguson's, 
73. 

Riot of Penn. troops, 27. 

Rising Sun tavern, 115. 

Roche de Bout, Wayne at, 222. 

Roosevelt on British and In- 
dians, 210, 213. 

Rush, Dr. Benjamin, to Wsyne, 
57; as a politician, 64; sees 
the main feature of Stony 
Point, 159. 

ST. CLAIR, ARTHUR, col. 
of Penn. bat., 23; starts 
for Three Rivers, 34; at fight, 
35; driven from Ticonderoga, 



244 



Index 



STJ 

66; supersedes Wayne, 133; 
jealous of Wayne, 134, et scq.; 
what John Adams said of, 
174; sneers at Wayne, 183; 
claim to recognition, 194; 
Governor of Northwest ter- 
ritory, 201; takes command of 
expedition against Indians, 
203; defeated, 203. 

St. Johns threatened, 30; 
Americans at, 44. 

St. John's River, colony at, 8. 

St. Lawrence River, British 
fleet in, 32. 

St. Maurice River, 36. 

Saltpeter, price for, 21. 

Sandusky Bay, French at, 1. 

Sandy Beach, regiments at, 
143; Wayne at, 143. 

Savannah, British at, 187; siege 
of, 187; Wayne comes to, 190; 
British abandon, 192. 

Savannah River, Wayne 
crosses, 186. 

Saxe's Campaigns, Wayne's 
favorite book, 19. 

Schuyler, Gen. Philip, ordered 
to take St. Johns and Mon- 
treal, 30; at Crown Point, 46; 
appeals for fresh troops, 53. 

Schuylkill, Americans cross, 76. 

Scott, Gen. Charles, at Mon- 
mouth, 118; joins Wayne, 220; 
at Fallen Timbers, 223. 

Sergeant, Wayne draws pistol 
on, 54. 

Sharon, night attack on Wayne 
at, 191. 

Shawnee tells of British do- 
ings, 216. 

Shee, John, colonel of Penn. 
bat., 23. 

Sheel, Henry, Wayne expresses 
pride to, 170. 



STE 

Sherman, Lieut. -Col. Isaac, at 
Stony Point, 142. 

Simcoe, Lieut.-Col. John 
Graves, discovers American 
position, 115; sent to build 
fort on Maumee (Lieut. -Gov.), 
215; promises to Inaians, 215, 
216. 

Simpson, Lieut., at Brandy- 
wine, 74. 

Sisters Ferry, Wayne crosses, 
186. 

Skirmish line, Steuben de- 
velops, 108. 

Smallpox in patriot army, 31, 
34; kills Gen. Thomas, 34. 

Smallwood, Gen. William, at 
the White Horse tavern, 78; 
at Paoli tavern, 83; faith in 
army, 86. 

"Smith's White House," 
Wayne's men stop at, 169. 

Society of Cincinnati erects 
monument to Wayne, 234. 

Society, Philadelphia, de- 
scribed, 131. 

Sorel River, army at, 32; re- 
treat up, 41. 

Spanish emissaries to Indians, 
217. 

Springsteel, David, Wayne at 
his farm, 150. 

Stephen, Gen., at Germantown, 
93. 

Steuben, Baron, comes to Val- 
ley Forge, 107; develops 
skirmish line, 108; at Mon- 
mouth council of war, 113; 
text-book desired, 146; ex- 
ceptional foreigner, 183. 

Stevens on war in Georgia, 186. 

Steward, Major "Jack," at 
Stony Point, 142; Congress 
thanks, 158. 



245 



Anthony Wayne 



STE 

Stewart, Col. Walter, describes 
Phila. society, 131; follows 
mutineers, 174. 

Stille speaks of Wayne's "van- 
ity," 24; quoted, 105. 

Stirling, Lord, at Monmouth 
council of war, 113. 

Stony Point, Wayne wants 
clothing for soldiers at at- 
tack on, 25; British take pos- 
session of, 139; described, 143; 
British at, 144, 145; Wayne's 
march to, 148, 149; reward 
promised to leaders in at- 
tack, 151; final examination 
of, 153; "Forward!" 154; won, 
155, 156; losses at, 156; effect 
of capture, 157. 

Sullivan, Gen. John, sent to 
Canada, 32; succeeds Thomas, 
34; retreats up Sorel River, 
41; his Brandy wine message, 
73; at Germantown, 89, et 
seq. 



rpAPPAN, Wayne at, 169. 

-^ Tea sent to colonies, 15. 

Thatcher on "Southern" 
troops, 27, 28. 

Thomas, Gen. John, at Quebec, 
32; retreats, 32, 33; dies, 34. 

Thompson, Gen. William, sent 
to take Three Rivers, 34; at 
battle of, 38, et seq.; cap- 
tured, 40. 

Three Rivers, British at, 34; 
fight at, 35, et seq.; retreat 
of Americans, 40, et seq. 

Ticonderoga, captured, 30; 
Carleton sees countenance of 
army at, 47. 

Toledo, fort at, 228. 

Tories and loyalists, 64; in 



VUL 
Bergen blockhouse, 162; in 
Georgia, 188; on frontier, 216. 

Torn Mountain, 149. 

Townsend, Lord, receives de- 
scription of Stony Point, 145. 

Treaties, of peace with Chero- 
kees and Creeks, 193; St. 
Clair and Indians, 201; at- 
tempt to make, 208; result, 
213; Wayne's, with Indians, 
229; vote to carry Jay's into 
effect, 232. 

Trenton, Hessians captured at, 
47. 

Truman, Major Alexander, 
peace envoy, 208. 

Trumble, Col. John, idea con- 
cerning Carleton, 48. 

Tryon, Gen. William, ravages 
Conn, coast, 141. 

"TTNIFORM, Wayne's idea of, 
^ 25; Washington's idea of, 
26; when Wayne's was rag- 
ged, 62, 63; at Valley Forge, 
105, et seq.; "elegant uni- 
form" for fighting in, 146; 
state of soldiers', 171, et seq. 

VALLEY FORGE, camp at, 
100, 102; the winter at, 

101; food scarce, 110. 
Van Wert County, O., Wayne's 

trail through, 221. 
Varnum, Gen., at Monmouth, 

118. 
Verplanck's Point, British take 

possession of, 139; British at, 

144. 
Virginia regiments at Brandy- 
wine, 71. 
Virginians at forks of Ohio, 2. 
Vulture, ship, at Stony Point, 

fired on, 155. 



246 



Index 



WAR 

"YTTAR, frontier, 200; losses 
' ' on, 202; preparations for, 
205, et seq.; ended, 225. 

Warren tavern, fight at, 77. 

"War-ships (British), In St. Law- 
rence, 32; at battle of Three 
Rivers, 36; fleet of British, 
leaves N. Y. for Phila., 67. 

Warwick, army at, 77. 

Washington crosses Alleghan- 
ies, 2; story of, parallel with 
Wayne, 6; views of fine uni- 
form, 26; sends soldiers to 
Canada, 32; driven across 
New Jersey, 47; at Trenton, 
47; marches to Middlebrook, 
62; orders Wayne to army, 
68; letter to, from Wayne, 09; 
Brandywine, 68, et seq.; de- 
scribes soldiers, 75; retreats, 
76; opinion of American army 
expressed, 76; ammunition 
destroyed, 77; hopeful at 
Germantown, 87; plans at 
Germantown, 88, et seq. ; at 
Germantown fight, 91; letter 
to, from Wayne, 99; council 
before Monmouth, 113; re- 
connoiters British, 116; orders 
attack, 117; curses Lee, 122; 
describes Phila. society, 131; 
British plans for "Mr. Wash- 
ington," 139; drawn to High- 
lands, 140; looks at Stony 
Point, 146; decides on plan of 
attack, 147; "whom can we 
trust now?" 168; trusts 
Wayne, 169; "I am again 
happy," 170; comes to York- 
town, 184; President, 202 
choice for commander in 
Northwest territory, 205 
lacked confidence in Wayne 
206; heeds peace at any price 
207; his doubts vanish, 227. 



WAT 

Waterford, Pa., fort at, 2. 

Waterville, 222. 

Wayne, Anthony, born, 1; 
things he heard about as a 
boy, 1, 2, 3; his father, 3; war- 
like propensities at school, 4; 
goes to Philadelphia school, 
5; in mathematics, 6; Wayne 
and Washington parallel, 6, 7; 
surveyor, 7; Franklin notices, 
8; goes to Nova Scotia for a 
company, 8; his instructions, 
9; ancestry, 10; marries, 11; 
home life, 12; represents 
Chester County freemen, 14; 
Ideas of duty, 19; prepares 
for war, 19; on Colonial Com- 
mittee, 20; In Navy Commit- 
tee, 22; colonel in army, 23; 
described ("Dandy"), 24; 
trains his men, 29; ordered to 
New York, 29; goes to Canada 
with Sullivan, 32; with Gen. 
Thompson, 34; first battle. 
Three Rivers, 35, et seq. ; the 
retreat, 40, et seq. ; wounded, 
41; told about by Allen, 42; 
climbs Mt. Defiance, 49; com- 
mands Ticonderoga, 49; in the 
second post of honor, 50; ap- 
peals for fresh troops, 53; 
confronts mutineers, 53; 
knocks one down, 54; on open 
fighting, 56; promoted, 57; 
would ask no favors, 57; 
anxious to fight, 59; at Mor- 
ristown, 60; commands Penn- 
sylvania Line, 60; described, 
62; of the "governing class," 
64; at Bi-andywine, 68, et 
seq.; leads American charge 
at Brandywine, 72; stops 
superior force, 73; at Warren 
tavern, 77; sent to annoy 
British, 77; anxious to strike. 



247 



Anthony Wayne 



WAY 
78; attacked at night, 80; wife 
well treated, 84; court-mar- 
tialed, 84; faith in army, 86 
at Germantown, 89, et seq. 
as at Three Rivers, 94 
cheered by events, 96; opinion 
of councils of war, 99; urges 
battle, 100; destitution of 
men in Valley Forge, 104; 
visits his men often, 105; buys 
cloth for men, 105; watches 
Steuben, 108; ideal soldier, 
109; secures supplies, 110; 
says "Fight, sir!" at Mon- 
mouth council of war, 114; in 
fight, 118, et seq.; faces the 
"flower" of the British army, 
121; Washington speaks of, by 
name, 125; describes Mon- 
mouth, 126; every kind of a 
fighting man, 129; speaks to 
Penn. Assembly, 133; super- 
seded by St. Clair, 134; a let- 
ter he did not send, 135; 
writes to Washington, 136, 138; 
in post of honor, 140; ordered 
to attack enemy on Hudson, 
141; arrives at Sandy Beach, 
143; looks at Stony Point, 145; 
"I'll storm hell," 146; learns 
details of attack on Stony 
Point, 147; orders dogs killed, 
148; confidence in troops, 151; 
final examination at Point, 
153; "Forward!" 154; the 
assault on Stony Point, 154, 
et seq.; wounded, 155, 156; 
Congress thanks, and com- 
mends his preparations, 158; 
establishes the "national 
character," 159; "goes home, 
161; a "tanner," 164, 165; 
gloomy, 165; sincere, 166; not 
a complaint from him, 168; a 
wonderful march, 169; when 



WAY 
his soldiers mutinied, 173, et 
seq.; ordered to Virginia, 
117; hangs mutineers, 178; 
joins Lafayette, 179; trapped 
by Cornwallis, 180; charges 
B,000 with 800 men, 181; out 
of trap, 181; recovers Georgia, 
182, et seq.; nickname "Mad 
Anthony," 182; wounded, 184; 
force in Georgia, 186; at 
Ebenezer, 187; Georgia proc- 
lamation, 188; keeps his men 
and the British moving, 189; 
whips Brown's Indian escort, 
189, et seq.; night attack on, 
191; horse shot under in 
hand-to-hand fight with In- 
dian, 191; sick, rides into 
Charleston, 192; receives 
rice plantation from Geor- 
gia, 192; a major-general, 
193; in civil life, 195; honest, 
196; member of Pennsylvania 
Assembly, 197; elected to but 
not accepted by Congress, 
197, 198; goes West in com- 
mand of American army, 199; 
called to save the nation, 204; 
Washington not confident of, 
and describes, 206; in com- 
mand, 207; advised by Knox, 
210; as a drill-master, 210, 
211; leaves Fort Washington, 
217; on Maumee, 220, et seq.; 
at "the Fallen Timbers," 
222, et seq.; leaves Fort 
Wayne, 228; spreads flag over 
nation's own, 230; applauded, 
231; thanks of Congress, 231; 
to receive forts the British 
held, 232; death, 233; buried 
in the shadow of the Gridiron 
Flag, 234, 235. 
Wayne, Col. Isaac (son), re- 
moves his father's bones, 234. 



248 



Index 



WAY 

Wayne, Gilbert (Gabriel), An- 
thony's uncle, thinks An- 
thony poor pupil, 4. 

Wayne, Isaac, Anthony's 
father, 3, 4; reaches Phila- 
delphia, 11; described, 11; 
dies, 11, 13. 

Waynesborough, 12. 

Weedon's brigade, Brandywine, 
71. 

Wemrock Brook Ravine, 118. 

West Point, Arnold's treason 
at, 168, et seq.; importance of, 
170. 

Wetzell, Louis, skill with rifle, 
211. 

Wharton, Thomas, writes to 
Wayne, 106. 



YOB 
White Horse tavern. Gen. 

Smallwood at, 78. 
White Marsh Church, camp at, 

101. 
Wilkinson, Major James, with 

Arnold, 41. 
Winsor, gives prevailing opin- 
ion of Wayne, 206. 
Woedtke, Baron de, commands 

American rear - guard on 

Sorel, 42. 
Women, Indians and, 3. 
Woodford, Gen., at Monmouth, 

118. 



YORK, Pa., Wayne writes 
from. 177; leaves, 179. 



(1) 



THE END 



17 



249 



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